3 ms·
Controversial take maybe, but who really gives a damn? Filing cabinets that haven't been opened for 50 years? I'm sure people would flock to a museum to see tho
by jemmyw 2y ago
Controversial take maybe, but who really gives a damn? Filing cabinets that haven't been opened for 50 years? I'm sure people would flock to a museum to see those /s. Researchers obviously weren't that interested. If private collectors are happy to pay large amounts for these things then that seems like the best option, they'll enjoy owning it.
We really don't need the minutia of every decision Orwell made while writing his stories, I'd go so far as to say agonizing over such devalues the work.
- bpshaver 2y agoI'm not aware of any Orwell short stories
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- HPsquared 2y agoThat's an interesting perspective how analysis can devalue works of literature. Stripping away the mythos, perhaps.
- thyristan 2y agoAgreed. Also: the originals are mostly only relevant for their collectible value. Researchers can more easily work off digital scans. No need to buy anything or keep anything together physically, just scan it if you are really that interested.
- keskival 2y agoAre there digital scans though? Edit: It seems there's a lot of digitalized materials in UCL online archives, but I would be surprised if all documents were digitalized: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/library/digital-collections/collections/orwell https://www.ucl.ac.uk/library/digital-collections/collection...
- thyristan 2y agoI don't know if there are digital scans. But that there aren't proves the OPs point that researchers can't be THAT interested after all, if they didn't even take scans of the documents.
- Teever 2y agoScans cost money. We shouldn't let the value of something be determined by the budgets and personal tastes of researchers from a random period in history. Look at the kind of historical artifacts that provide untold insight into ancient societies. Many of these artifacts only exist today because they were accidentally buried or boarded up in a wall and forgotten about while all others were wiped from the world for whatever reason, be it simply recycling or a more malevolent and systematic purge by motivated individuals. We don't know what is valuable so we should assume that it is all valuable.
- trimethylpurine 2y agoWithout the originals, however, it's not so difficult, say for a dystopian government, to replace the work entirely with a completely different propaganda attributed to his name. As modern governments do to flip the script on everything from the events of the world wars, the history of the founding of the United States, slavery, and every other politically charged topic hijacked to rally support for one violent or profitable ideal or another. It's very easy to imagine that tomorrow some government somewhere will be describing the dystopia that George Orwell predicted would occur if people were suddenly allowed to speak freely. In fact, it's easy to imagine that even the original works themselves can barely serve to protect the original message.
- nkrisc 2y agoBy original works, do you mean those counterfeits created by enemies of the state to undermine national unity? The real version is that found in the state’s digital archives. /s
- trimethylpurine 2y agoI love it. Touche'.
- lupire 2y agoPeople can say whatever they want. Orwell wasn't God of Moses. If you change his book you have a new book that stands on its own merits.