1933 – Down and Out in Paris and London
1934 – Burmese Days
1935 – A Clergyman’s Daughter
1936 – Keep the Aspidistra Flying
1937 – The Road to Wigan Pier
1938 – Homage to Catalonia
1939 – Coming Up for Air
1945 – Animal Farm
1949 – Nineteen Eighty-Four
我在按照出版顺序通读奥威尔，隔了很久继续读动物农场。在这本之前，奥威尔的主题主要是他周围的社会。他的特点是姿态很低，他的敏感和诚实用在底层人身上。
但是西班牙内战的经历让他的思索聚焦到了二十世纪最特别的现象上。除非用一些已经含有很多附带判断和情绪的词句，我无法用一两句话来概括这是什么。我现在经常想起伍尔芙那句 “Fiction here is likely to contain more truth than fact”。马列主义国家的荒诞和悲剧，有很多书记录分析。 但也许没有一本非虚构的分析能像这本小说给人这样直接的理解和震撼。
也许描述这本书和描述现实一样困难。比如使用 “Animalism” 和对此的解释：
After much thought Snowball declared that the Seven Commandments could in effect be reduced to a single maxim, namely: “Four legs good, two legs bad.” This, he said, contained the essential principle of Animalism. Whoever had thoroughly grasped it would be safe from human influences. The birds at first objected, since it seemed to them that they also had two legs, but Snowball proved to them that this was not so.
“A bird’s wing, comrades,” he said, “is an organ of propulsion and not of manipulation. It should therefore be regarded as a leg. The distinguishing mark of man is the hand, the instrument with which he does all his mischief.”
再比如 Napoleon 驱逐 Snowball 之后决定采用 Snowball 的提议建磨坊。如今看到这些我会想起阿伦特的解释：极权主义就是领导可以瞬间180度转变而人们不会觉得有问题。阿伦特还说，极权主义的逻辑不一样，你是 objective 的敌人，不是因为你做了什么事，而是因为你的定义就是。鸟只有两条腿，但是翅膀也算腿，这还是极权主义初期，可能类似于文革时期的辩论。至于后期，可以直接说4条腿好，2条腿更好。你心里感到疑惑，就说明你是叛徒。
我曾经觉得，这种程度的荒诞，没有经历过的人是无法想象的。按照出版顺序读奥威尔，我觉得也许我搞反了，一直生活在里面的人也许不会有能力揭示它的荒诞，连意识到都可能比较困难。