“You discover the boredom which is inseparable from poverty; the times when you have nothing to do and, being underfed, can interest yourself in nothing. For half a day at a time you lie on your bed, feeling like a jeune squelette in Beaudelaire’s poem. Only food could rouse you. You discover that a manContinue reading “RKS Literature: In Poverty You Discover Boredom (George Orwell)”
Tag Archives: George Orwell
RKS Literature: In Poverty You Discover Hunger (George Orwell)
You discover what it is like to be hungry. With bread and margarine in your belly, you go out and look into the shop windows. Everywhere there is food insulting you in huge, wasteful piles; whole dead pigs, baskets of hot loaves, great yellow blocks of butter, strings of sausages, mountains of potatoes, vast GruyèreContinue reading “RKS Literature: In Poverty You Discover Hunger (George Orwell)”
RKS Literature: Soaking up Cheap Wine in the Slums of Paris (George Orwell)
“There was R., an Englishman who lived six months of the year in Putney with his parents and six months in France. During his time in France he drank four litres of wine a day, and six litres on Saturday; he once had travelled to the Azores, because the wine there is cheaper than anywhereContinue reading “RKS Literature: Soaking up Cheap Wine in the Slums of Paris (George Orwell)”
RKS Literature: Buying Pornographic Postcards in Paris? (George Orwell)
“There were the Rougiers, for instance, an old ragged, dwarfish couple who plied an extraordinary trade. They used to sell postcards on the Boulevard St. Michel. The curious thing is that the postcards were sold in sealed packets as pornographic ones, but were actually photographs of châteaux on the Loire; the buyers did not discoverContinue reading “RKS Literature: Buying Pornographic Postcards in Paris? (George Orwell)”
RKS Literature: The Less than Luxurious Hotel des Trois Moineaux in Paris (George Orwell)
“The walls were as thin as matchwood, and to hide the cracks they had been covered with layer after layer of pink paper, which had come loose and housed innumerable bugs. Near the ceiling long lines of bugs marched all day like columns of soldiers, and at night came down ravenously hungry, so that oneContinue reading “RKS Literature: The Less than Luxurious Hotel des Trois Moineaux in Paris (George Orwell)”
RKS Literature: A Representative Paris Slum (George Orwell)
“It was a very narrow street-a ravine of tall leprous houses. Lurching toward one another in queer attitudes, as though they had been frozen in the act of collapse. All the houses were hotels and packed to the tiles with lodgers, mostly Poles, Arabs and Italians. At the foot of the hotels were tiny bistrosContinue reading “RKS Literature: A Representative Paris Slum (George Orwell)”
RKS Literature: Indifference to Reality as One Principal Characteristic of Nationalist Thought (George Orwell)
“Actions are held to be good or bad, not on their own merits, but according to who does them, and there is almost no kind of outrage-torture, the use of hostages, forced labour, mass deportations, imprisonment without trial, forgery, assassination, the bombing of civilians-which does not change its moral character when it is committed byContinue reading “RKS Literature: Indifference to Reality as One Principal Characteristic of Nationalist Thought (George Orwell)”
RKS Literature: Obsession as One Principal Characteristic of Nationalist Thought (George Orwell)
“As nearly as possible, no nationalist ever thinks, talks, or writes about anything except the superiority of his own power unit. It is difficult if not impossible for any nationalist to conceal his allegiance. The smallest slur upon his own unit, or any implied praise of a rival organization, fills him with uneasiness which heContinue reading “RKS Literature: Obsession as One Principal Characteristic of Nationalist Thought (George Orwell)”
RKS Literature: The Distinction Between Nationalism and Patriotism (George Orwell)
“By “patriotism” I mean a devotion to a particular place and a particular way of life, which one believes to be the best place in the world but has no wish to force upon other people. Patriotism by its very nature is defensive, both militarily and culturally. Nationalism, on the other hand, is inseparable fromContinue reading “RKS Literature: The Distinction Between Nationalism and Patriotism (George Orwell)”
RKS Literature: International Sports Mimics Warfare (George Orwell)
“At the international level sport is frankly mimic warfare but the significant thing is not the behaviour of the players but the attitude of the spectators and behind the spectators, of the nations who work themselves into furies over these absurd contests, and seriously believe-at any rate for short periods- that running, jumping and kickingContinue reading “RKS Literature: International Sports Mimics Warfare (George Orwell)”
A Bird's Eye View of Fashion, Food, Travel, Culture, Beverage and Curiosity 