Orwell's thoughts and writing were shaped by his experiences of the British public school [1] system, serving in the colonial police service, living as a homeless person in Paris and London, fighting on the republican side in the Spanish civil war, and (late in his life) seeing how the second world war played-out. These experiences honed his conscience and anger.
It's hard to imagine people who have lived similar lives now (maybe a minimum-wage warehouse worker from South London who went to fight with the rebels in Syria and came home wounded) believing that society can be changed in useful ways by writing fiction.
And if they did, and they became a threat to power, the daily mail would probably destroy them fairly quickly. Different times.
[1] In the UK, "public schools" are mostly what everyone else on the planet calls private schools.
> Orwell's thoughts and writing were shaped by his experiences of the British public school [1] system, serving in the colonial police service, living as a tramp in Paris and London, fighting on the republican side in the Spanish civil war, and (late in his life) seeing how the second world war played-out. These experiences honed his conscience and anger.
I disagree. I'm sure education and lifestyle was important in shaping Orwell's world-view, but I believe that he was inspired by the Nazi Germany and Stalin's Soviet Union and not by the Spanish civil war or his schooling years.
He witnessed first-hand how totalitarian governments operate and a possible future outcome. A book that played a major role in his understanding of the Soviet Union was Darkness at Noon[1] by Arthur Koestler written in 1940, a book which gives an insight view of the Moscow Trials[2] in 1938. Orwell's 1984 was published in 1949.
I agree that Nazi Germany and Stalin's Soviet Union were certainly major inspirations for his writing 1984 and Animal Farm. But those are just his best-known works.
They don't really explain, for example, why he voluntarily lived as a homeless person before writing Down and Out in Paris and London, or his feelings about the plight of working people that motivated the writing of The Road to Wigan Pier. Its also worth noting that in Spain he was fighting against Franco's fascists in the mid-30s because he could already see where that belief system leads.
Orwell's experience of private education resulted in his strong views about the role of class and privilege in British society at the time - concerns which are arguably still relevant today. His time in the colonial Burmese Police led him to say, in The Road to Wigan Pier, that "I hated the imperialism I was serving with a bitterness which I probably cannot make clear". It would be interesting to speculate on what he would think of UK foreign policy after 9/11.
Orwell was a social critic. In the context of the issues raised Monbiot's article and the question about a "new Orwell", anyone who was successfully taking on that role would be doing more than just writing cautionary tales about possible future totalitarian dystopias.
> I disagree. I'm sure education and lifestyle was important in shaping Orwell's world-view, but I believe that he was inspired by the Nazi Germany and Stalin's Soviet Union and not by the Spanish civil war or his schooling years.
His experience of the Communist party and the infighting on the Republican side during the Spanish civil war was a massive influence, though.
To further clarify, a tramp is someone who travels around but works only if/when he has to, a hobo is someone who travels around mainly looking for work and a bum is someone who does neither.
This is news to me, but a neat distinction. American English, I presume, since the latter two are unknown in English usage, unless they've just become archaic and associated only with American (see "soccer"). I suspect these nuances have been lost to most, but then that's a common problem in modern usage.
We don't really see tramps anymore in the UK. Your definitions are correct. A tramp is someone who is always on the move. We saw lots of them after the two world wars in the UK, as conscripted traumatised ex servicemen returned home. I'd imagine in the USA to see a few Vietnamese War veterans to be tramps now.
About twenty years ago, while day-hiking in the southern part of the Peak District, I got talking to a guy who was walking the same section of road as me. He was pretty shabbily dressed and his shoes were worn-out, and he said he was walking from (I think) Birmingham to Carlisle to stay with his brother because he had no money and nowhere to live. He told me he was keeping away from towns and sleeping in forests and barns. All his possessions were stuffed into the pockets of his coat. We walked a couple of miles together and he seemed like a nice guy.
Not exactly a "gentleman of the road" with a spotted-hanky-bundle on a stick, but the nearest I've seen to an archetypal tramp. I hope he made it.
I originally used the word "tramp" because (from memory) that was the word Orwell used to describe himself in Down and out in Paris and London; corresponding to the meaning described at [1]. I was aware that it is considered pejorative, but not the different meaning in US English.
Also, just to confuse things, in Scotland they are generally called "private" schools and are extremely popular in some places - Edinburgh has 25% of kids attending private schools.
It's hard to imagine people who have lived similar lives now (maybe a minimum-wage warehouse worker from South London who went to fight with the rebels in Syria and came home wounded) believing that society can be changed in useful ways by writing fiction.
And if they did, and they became a threat to power, the daily mail would probably destroy them fairly quickly. Different times.
[1] In the UK, "public schools" are mostly what everyone else on the planet calls private schools.
Edit: s/tramp/homeless person/