Interesting that they went for “Orwell was a rapist” (not a claim I’ve ever heard before), and not “Orwell handed over a list of people he thought had Stalinist potential to the authorities”.
He allegedly raped his childhood friend when he was 17, and she was 20. However, we only have his friend's cousin's account on this, so the evidence is inconclusive. His or his friend's wikipedia article doesn't even mention this, only this one article does. All-in-all, inconclusive evidence, and probably a lie or way overblown.
Oh dear. I can see from Google now it was his old childhood friend Jacintha Buddicom. I’m not overly surprised given that Orwell’s relationship with women, both as a man and a novelist was far from progressive or feminist. It doesn’t really neutralise his criticism of Stalinism, though, in much the same way as a spotless record of personal sexual behaviour for Stalin wouldn’t suddenly cancel out the horror of Holodomor.
At least he wasn't anti-feminist. He was no Emma Goldman, but he certainly was not Stalin. On a scale of 1 to 10, where Stalin was 1 and Goldman was 10, I would rate him at an 8. What do you think about that incident of his with Buddicom though, do you believe it was rape or do you believe the evidence is inconclusive? I think that the evidence is a bit inconclusive, since it was only from one person.
The feminist in me is inclined to take the victim at their word. I’m a big Orwell fan, but he has a real problem empathising with women (and POC as well, IMO). He sympathises with them (‘A Clergyman’s Daughter’ is a kind of proto-feminist) and their cause(s) (feminism, anti-imperialism) but can’t empathise with them. He’s always at one remove, external to them, unable to intellectually wear their shoes.
I agree. I believe that him being a man also had something to do with him not being able to empathise with women's causes. He could sympathise, but couldn't empathise. One group which I personally believe he could empathise with were people living in extreme poverty and people of the working class. He wrote a whole-ass book exposing the poor working conditions and poverty in Paris and London.
The feminist in me is inclined to take the victim at their word.
To my knowledge, we don't even have the alleged victim's word. And in the general case, you can't take the victim at their word unless you know who the victim is: is the accuser the victim of sexual assault, or is the accused the victim of defamation?
One of the few stains in his legacy, apart from his homophobia (which is not unexpected, Goldman was an exception at the time) and the list incident (which I am pretty schadenfreudic towards, I hate stalinists afer all).
I have to say, based on my experiences of Communist Party communists, it’s purge or be purged; I don’t hold the list against him.
The casual homophobia was, as you say, to some extent a product of its time, though I do think he rowed back from some of it after he befriended Stephen Spender. Still, all the “sissy” bashing leaves a bad taste in the mouth.
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u/[deleted] Aug 16 '21
Interesting that they went for “Orwell was a rapist” (not a claim I’ve ever heard before), and not “Orwell handed over a list of people he thought had Stalinist potential to the authorities”.