In February 1937, an idealistic and ungainly Englishman in his
thirties traveled to Spain to take his place in the trenches at the
Aragón front to
defend
the Republic. His name was Eric Arthur Blair, remembered by
history as
George
Orwell. This month, 80 years after the start of that adventure,
Richard Blair, the writer’s only son, now a 72-year-old retired
agricultural engineer, visited Huesca to take part in the opening of
a major exhibition about his father.
TALKING to
EL PAÍS during his brief stopover in Madrid on his way
back to London, Richard Blair evoked the figure of Orwell and commented on
the relevance of his legacy and the enormous interest in his final
novel,
1984, which has become an international best-seller
since Donald Trump
became US president.
“It’s true that in recent weeks, with the references in the
United States to ‘alternative facts’ [cited by Kellyanne Conway,
one of the president’s top advisors], there has been increased
interest in his book. But my father has never gone out of fashion.”
The book was not so much a prophecy as a fable about Nazi and
Stalinist totalitarianism, says Blair, although as he points out,
some details from the novel that once seemed like science fiction
have been part of our everyday life for some time, such as security
cameras that watch our movements, or what some companies know about
us from our internet activity, or how we use our credit cards.
“Society has evolved toward what he saw. The world is becoming
Orwellian,” he says.
Blair is patron of the Orwell society, a not-for-profit
organization dedicated to spreading knowledge about the life and work
of the writer, as well as debate about ideas, and that remains
scrupulously neutral about politics. Which might explain why he is so
careful in choosing his words when talking about Trump.
“I think that there is a lot of tension and compression in the
White House right now. It is true that Trump is attacking the press,
but he is a complete enigma, they are all maneuvering and learning to
live with each other,” he says.
Nevertheless, he says he cannot help but be happy at the hike in
sales of his father’s books, particularly as he inherited the
publishing rights (
“which expire in 2020,” he points out). But he
recognizes concerns that this has been due to the public finding
parallels between the current situation and the dystopia Orwell
described.
Orwell and his wife Eileen adopted Richard in 1944. Ten months
later, Eileen died on the operating table. Some of the friends of the
tuberculous-stricken writer suggested that he give up custody of the
child but he ruled out the possibility. The relationship between
Orwell and his adopted son became closer when the two of them moved
to the Scottish island of Jura, chosen because it was a healthier
location for Orwell to overcome his illness and where it was so cold
that “if you move six feet away from the fireplace, you freeze.”
Blair’s memories from those days are of a loving father who made
wooden toys, who had a strange sense of humor, and whose parenting
style had none of the political correctness of modern upbringings. On
one occasion he allowed the three-year-old Richard to smoke from a
pipe filled with tobacco collected from his cigarette butts. The
result, aside from a vomiting fit, was that the child saw himself
temporarily vaccinated against the vice of smoking.
It was on Jura that Orwell finished
1984, writing in his
room during the day and spending the evenings with the child. One of
their favorite activities was fishing, especially for the lobsters
that filled out a diet otherwise made frugal by post-war rationing.
One weekend in August 1947, however, on a journey back from a weekend
of relaxation on the west side of Jura, their boat sank and they
almost drowned. Blair says Orwell’s health suffered as a result.
David Astor, owner of
The Observer newspaper, which
published the writer’s work, asked to be allowed import the newly
discovered antibiotic streptomycin from the United States, with which
he was treated between December 1947 and July 1948 in a hospital near
Glasgow. But his efforts were in vain: Orwell developed an allergy to
the medication.
“His nails fell out and blisters appeared on his
lips,” Richard recalls. The writer died in January 1950 at age of
46, when his son was about to celebrate his sixth birthday.
What is the most important lesson that Orwell taught us? For
journalists, says Blair, there are many.
“To be honest. The most
important things are facts which can be corroborated, not reality as
you want it to be. Journalists today do not have time to check facts,
and errors are perpetuated and multiplied on the internet until they
become true.” The writer’s son also recalls Orwell’s six rules
for clear writing from his 1946 essay
Politics and the English
Language.
“Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of
speech that you are used to seeing in print; Never use a long word
where a short one will do; If it is possible to cut a word out,
always cut it out; Never use the passive where you can use the
active; Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon
word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent; Break any of
these rules sooner than say anything barbarous.”
Blair finished up with his father’s definition of liberty:
“If
liberty means anything at all it means the right to tell people what
they do not want to hear.”
Blair is particularly concerned about the lack of dialogue in
contemporary society.
“All people do is shout at one another,
without actually listening.” And he is surprised to see young
people who, instead of speaking face to face, spend all day staring
into their smartphones. “Even couples in restaurants! Are they
communicating with each other via text messages?!” he jokes. And
what would Orwell make of the 21st century, the era of the internet,
great scientific advances and post-truth?
“Ah, now that’s the million-dollar question. But it’s
impossible to get into anyone’s head. Nor to come up with the
answer by reading his books. If he were still alive he would be 113,
and would have had a lot of new influences… There’s no point in
speculating.” As such, we don’t know, and we can’t know. But he
does go as far as to assume one thing: whatever his thoughts, they
would be characterized by common sense.
Ion Telleria Barrena
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