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28 Oct 2008 12:42 pm
A Blogger Avant La Lettre
In my essay, Why I Blog, (which I'll be discussing tomorrow on NPR for On Point at 11 am EST, by the way), I cited early non-blogger bloggers such as Pascal, Montaigne, and Karl Kraus. Allan Massie made the case for including Orwell this summer (his son, Alex, emailed me about it). This should push Leon Wieseltier over the edge:
The decision to publish in this way makes one wonder whether Orwell
would have been a blogger if the internet had existed in his day. The
answer is surely yes. Though, as Eric Blair - his real name, which he
never changed legally to George Orwell - he was a very private person,
he had the journalist's urge to record and publish whatever was in his
mind or had caught his eye.
He delighted in trivia: "C, of my section of the Home Guard, a
poulterer by trade but at present dealing in meat of all kinds,
yesterday bought 20 zebras which are being sold off by the zoo. Only
for dog-meat, presumably, not human consumption. It seems rather a
waste" (April 24, 1941). His Tribune column, "As I Please", could
switch from comments on international politics to reflections about the
drudgery of washing-up. And he was happy to instruct readers on the
correct way to make a pot of tea.
Always an inspiration.
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