{"id":51506,"date":"2014-12-22T12:00:35","date_gmt":"2014-12-22T12:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=51506"},"modified":"2015-05-05T21:27:09","modified_gmt":"2015-05-05T20:27:09","slug":"haunting-illustrations-for-orwells-nineteen-eighty-four-introduced-by-the-courageous-journalist-who-broke-the-edward-snowden-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2014\/12\/haunting-illustrations-for-orwells-nineteen-eighty-four-introduced-by-the-courageous-journalist-who-broke-the-edward-snowden-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Haunting Illustrations for Orwell\u2019s Nineteen Eighty-Four, Introduced by the Courageous Journalist Who Broke the Edward Snowden Story"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\"george<\/a>Few things in creative culture are more enchanting than an artist\u2019s interpretation of a beloved book. There is Maurice Sendak\u2019s rare and formative art for William Blake\u2019s \u201cSongs of Innocence,\u201d<\/a> William Blake\u2019s paintings for Miltpreon\u2019s Paradise Lost<\/em><\/a>, Picasso\u2019s 1934 drawings for a naughty ancient Greek comedy<\/a>, Matisse\u2019s 1935 etchings for Ulysses<\/em><\/a>, and Salvador Dal\u00ed\u2019s literary illustrations for Cervantes\u2019s Don Quixote<\/em><\/a>, Dante\u2019s Divine Comedy<\/em><\/a>, Shakespeare\u2019s Romeo and Juliet<\/em><\/a>, and the essays of Montaigne<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Since 1947, The Folio Society<\/a> has served as the premier patron saint of such contemporary cross-pollinations of great art and great literature. Now comes a gorgeous slipcase edition of the George Orwell<\/strong> classic Nineteen Eighty-Four<\/em><\/strong><\/a> (public library<\/em><\/a>), illustrated by Jonathan Burton<\/a> \u2014 a book both timeless and extraordinarily, chillingly timely as we confront the aftermath of the NSA fallout, and the best visual interpretation of Orwell since Ralph Steadman\u2019s spectacular illustrations for Animal Farm<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the introduction, Guardian<\/em> editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger \u2014 who broke the Edward Snowden story in a masterwork of journalism and stood up to real-life Big Brother by refusing to hand over Snowden\u2019s data to the government \u2014 explores the parallels, contrasts, and essential civic discourse springing from the difference between the two camps:<\/p>\n

As the full impact of the Snowden revelations sank in, many people made the same connection, and Amazon announced a dramatic rise in sales of Nineteen Eighty-Four. To some, the young NSA analyst had revealed a world which was near-Orwellian; others thought that he had described a state of affairs that Orwell could barely have imagined. Just before Christmas 2013 a US District Judge, Richard Leon, pronounced the NSA\u2019s surveillance capabilities to be \u201calmost Orwellian.\u201d Orwellian, beyond Orwellian, not-quite Orwellian. As the debate ricocheted around the world there soon developed the counter-school: not at all Orwellian. Or even, \u201cOrwell got it wrong,\u201d ignoring Thomas Pynchon\u2019s caution about Nineteen Eighty-Four that \u201cprophecy and prediction are not quite the same.\u201d The not-Orwellians found it offensive that a book describing a totalitarian dystopia should be confused with the efforts of one of the most open, liberal democracies in the world to defend itself. And so the debate about the \u201cOrwellian\u201d nature of what the NSA was up to became a proxy for discussion of the issue itself.<\/em><\/p>\n

But the book\u2019s most important legacy, as Rusbridger suggests, lives in precisely that limbo between what Orwell got right and what he got wrong \u2014 a testament to \u201cthe unknowable question of what future purpose technology might be put to,\u201d the darker answers to which we must at the very least acknowledge, even as we strive to offer more ennobling ones<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"'There<\/a>

‘There seemed to be no colour in anything, except the posters that were plastered everywhere.’<\/p><\/div>\n

\"'On<\/a>

‘On it was written, in a large unformed handwriting: I love you.’<\/p><\/div>\n

\"'He<\/a>

‘He knelt down before her and took her hands in his.’<\/p><\/div>\n

\"'At<\/a>

‘At the far end of the room, O’Brien was sitting at a table under a green-shaded lamp.’<\/p><\/div>\n

\"'He<\/a>

‘He propped the book against his knees and began reading: Chapter I. Ignorance is Strength.’<\/p><\/div>\n

\"'Almost<\/a>

‘Almost unconsciously he traced with his finger in the dust on the table.’<\/p><\/div>\n

\"foliosociety_1984_0\"<\/a>Complement Nineteen Eighty-Four<\/em><\/strong><\/a> with two other Folio Society favorites \u2014 artist Mimmo Paladino\u2019s stunning etchings for Ulysses<\/em><\/a> and John Vernon Lord\u2019s visually gripping take on Finnegans Wake<\/em><\/a> \u2014 then revisit Orwell on the freedom of the press<\/a>, why writers write<\/a>, the four questions a great writer must answer<\/a>, and his eleven golden rules for the perfect cup of tea<\/a>.<\/p>\n

_____________________________<\/p>\n

Brain Pickings<\/em> is the brain child of Maria Popova, an interestingness hunter-gatherer and curious mind at large obsessed with combinatorial creativity who also writes for <\/em>Wired<\/em> UK and <\/em>The Atlantic<\/em>, among others, and is an MIT Futures of Entertainment Fellow. She has gotten occasional help from a handful of guest contributors<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Illustrations courtesy of Folio Society \u00a9 Jonathan Burton 2014<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 brainpickings.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the full impact of the Snowden revelations sank in, many people made the connection, and Amazon announced a dramatic rise in sales of \u2018Nineteen Eighty-Four.\u2019 To some, the young NSA analyst had revealed a world which was near-Orwellian; others thought that he had described a state of affairs that Orwell could barely have imagined.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-whistleblowing-surveillance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51506\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}