Animal Farm - Episode #1 - Meet George Orwell and the array of world forces that produced this classic work!

02/02/20 • 39 min

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Hi, I’m Christy Shriver.

And I’m Garry Shriver, and this is the How to Love Lit Podcast. Today we start another political tale- this time instead of a play written two-thousand years, ago, we will discuss a novel, well officially it’s a novel, but its author called it a fairy-tale, albeit without the prince charming, beautiful princess and the happily ever after ending. I’m not sure how it’s a fairy tale at all, actually.

HA! Yes, Orwell was very careful with his words and that bit of satirical language sets the tone for what’s to come in this strangely inspirational scary yet playful warning about the dangers of power and totalitarianism. And speaking about Orwell calling it a fairy tale- the American publisher omitted that title in the American edition a year after it was written and after that so did everyone else- I’m really not sure why. ,It’s an obvious fable that works on several levels. First, it’s a charming story about talking animals- and it works so well on that level and written so simply that there are libraries who mistakenly put it in the juvenile section of the library. And in some sense it is simple and that makes it a relief to read. I saw in a survey done by the Independent newspaper of Great Britain that it is THE most popular book adults remember from their school days- even beats out The Great Gatsby, Charlottes’s Webb and lord of the flies- and if I were to guess, and I will, I have a feeling, that’s because most of the books we make kids read have complicated vocabulary, old fashioned syntax and are just exhausting. Animal Farm is none of that. It has a simplicity of form that makes it simple to navigate- but if you read it ONLY in that way- you are making a grave mistake. It’s not the same as the jungle book or Beatrix Potter. It’s a biting satire about Soviet Totalitarianism as well as an important allegory on basic human nature- what people are really like- and exposing complicated people as simply as he did is where the genius rests- We should never mistake simplicity of form with simplicity of ideas- and an oversimplification of this story makes you the gullible fools he’s writing about and warning you not to be.

Another point mentioning is that this book has been controversial from before it was published. Orwell finished the manuscript to Animal Farm in 1943 but it wasn’t published until August 1945 by a company called Secker & Warburg. Frederic Warburg published the book despite his wife threatening to leave him if he did publish it. It was horrifying to publish a book so openly mocking the Russians who were our allies in WW2 and had lost so many men in the fight against Hitler. The book came out literally the same month in which the atomic bomb hit Hiroshima and Nagasaki- and although no one would have known it at the time- there’s a bit or irony to think about the fact that the Manhattan Project, an effort basically committed to figuring out how to blow up the world, was literally going on at the exact same time Orwell was writing this warning about the political scenario that would lead to such a disaster- anyway- despite his wife’s protestations, Warburg published the book and the 4,500 copies he printed sold out in just a few days. Nine million copies were sold by 1973 and Warburg gained popularity from his connection to Animal Farm. The fact that the everyone knew the book would be controversial only made them want to read it more.

Even after WWII and the book’s obvious success there has still been some opposition to it in the classroom, although nothing like of mice and men or Huck Finn. In the sixties in Wisconsin the book was challenged because of its phrases about revolution, and people were afraid this would cause public revolt .At the same time in New York, there was opposition because Orwell was a socialist and they did not want to teach a book thought to be written by a communist. But in the end, it has been hailed in free countries as a great exposition of communism, and it’s banned in countries where control of free thought is government policy. Animal Farm is still banned in Cuba, Kenya, and the United Arab Emirates according to the American Library Association. Only a censored version is read in China and the book was banned in Russia from 1945 until the 1980’s. Of course, on the other side of this issue, and this is kind of funny- Animal Farm is the only book I know of that the CIA actually funded, In the 1950s, the CIA actually paid to have an animated version of this book distributed around the world.

It does seem that that this unassuming “fairy tale”does ruffle feathers- it can’t be ignored. There is a lot to say about the different ways to approach this book. First we must look at it in its original historical context, the politics of Russia, Spain, the 1940s, etc...this is how Orwell intende...

Animal Farm - Episode #1 - Meet George Orwell and the array of world forces that produced this classic work!

Hi, I’m Christy Shriver.

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Animal Farm - Episode #2 - Meet the characters of Animal Farm and dive into lots of political allegory!

Hi, this is Christy Shriver.

This is Garry Shriver, and this is the How to Love Lit Podcast. This is the second episode in the series where we look at George Orwell and his political ideology through the classic and beloved novella and allegory Animal Farm. Last week, we discussed the life and times of Orwell himself, and we looked, albeit very briefly at the first couple of chapters of the book itself highlighting really the deceptively lighthearted tone of the first couple of chapters where a wise old boar expounds the beauties of Animalism – a dream world where everyone is treated fairly and properly; Where everyone feels respect and attains a life of leisure, but most importantly where the blame for all the cruelties of life is clearly identified and on whom it should fall- and the answer to that is man. Man is the source of all evil and to get rid of man is to get rid of tyranny, cruelty and evil. We ended with the animals roaring in applause as they are lost in the Utopian dream.

And singing, although I don’t think we brought that out- what would be their theme song or national anthem- Beasts of England, which according to Orwell, is a “stirring tune something between ‘Clementine’ and ‘la Cucaracha’”. I still can’t figure out how you can mosh those two together- but I’m sure coming through the bleats of talking pigs, horses, chickens and even rats- it’s all the same. Today we are going to look at at this book pretty much solely as a straightforward thinly disguised discussion of Russian politics and as a criticism of the Russian revolution. It’s written in the third person that keeps us at a safe distance. We are NOT ever going to feel like we’re on the farm with these animals- this story is about another world- and on one letter- a very very specific time and place in human history. And to understand it we must begin with a discussion of Russian history. I know it feels like we’re going super heaving on history- since we got into the Spanish Revolution and colonialism last week, but when you understand the series of events as they unfolded in Russia, then the story makes total sense. I think it is a HUGE mistake to avoid a discussion of Russian history when studying this book, although I know this is a common practice in some places.

In this book, from a historical perspective, it’s unavoidable to see the extremely obvious connection. It’s Orwell’s obvious purpose to NOt hide who each character was or that he was even talking about Russia. It was the Russians who called everyone “comrade” – and I think everyone who grew up during the cold war ever, thinks about Russia when they hear that word comrade- I don’t know if it’s used besides when talking about communist people from Russia. So, when old Major begins by saying “All animals are comrades”- the secret it out- the code word has been uttered- this farm is Russia.

To me, it’s like when someone says, “I’m not going to tell you who’s fault it is, but his name rhymes with Harry and starts with a G.

Exactly, so, let’s get a little familiar with the country of Russia and its incredibly diverse and interesting past. Christy, I know you lived there are one point in your life, what can you tell us.

Well, let me correct you on that. I never lived in Russia. When I was in college, I was an exchange student to Kazakhstan, which today is an independent country, but during the Soviet era was a Soviet republic. What that means, is that although it had a totally different cultural heritage until 1991, it was a part of the same country as Russia. Russia was a republic and Kazakhstan was a republic- they were both republics in the country that existed from 1922-1991, and is basically what Animal Farm is about. When the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, I was in college. In 1992, I signed up to be a part of an exchange to the former Soviet Union. I had always been enamoured, like everyone else of my generation, with everything Soviet- we watched a LOT of James Bond movies. I went over there with a group of six students to a University named Kazhgyu Grad to study Russian language and culture. We thought we were pretty cool getting one of the first looks back behind the “iron curtain” as everyone called it back then. The Soviet Union to us had been a mysterious place and even a scary place. And the story of how it was created is the story Orwell tells. Perhaps in another episode, if it fits into the discussion, I’ll tell you what it was like when we got there- and as everyone in the West quickly discovered after the wall came down, it was never the dream old Major described or the Russian people envisioned when they threw out the Czars and brought in the communists. I was totally unprepared for what we saw. But anyway, Let’s tell the story.

Ok- Well, Until the beginning of the 20th century, Ru...