Chautauqua NY
John J. Miller, a George Orwell scholar, wrote in the September 18, 2021 edition of The Wall Street Journal that the book 1984, secured Orwell’s legacy. He said, “it led to the invention of the word “Orwellian”, a term that ironically describes the totalitarianism* that Orwell bitterly opposed.”
Miller is the Advocates for Balance at Chautauqua speaker during the Chautauqua season Week 6. The title of his talk is “George Orwell’s 1984: More Prophecy than Fiction?”
He is director of the Herbert H. Dow II journalism program at Hillsdale College, national correspondent for the National Review and host of its Great Books podcast.
The talk takes place on Monday, July 31, in the Athenaeum Hotel parlor at 3pm. ABC aims to provide intellectual diversity to Chautauqua audiences. Its mission is “To achieve a balance of speakers in a mutually civil and respectful environment consistent with the historic mission of Chautauqua.”
Advocates for Balance at Chautauqua talks are not listed in the official Chautauqua Institution publications. But ABC has more than 700 supporters and their events are well attended.
Before Orwell wrote 1984, he wrote Homage to Catalonia, about his experience in the Spanish Civil War where he defended the socialist government against an uprising led by Francisco Franco. The Soviets supported the Spanish government and the Nazis supported Franco.
Miller writes that from Orwell’s experience he learned “lies and threats to freedom could come from illiberalism on both sides of the political spectrum. This is when Orwell became Orwell.”
In 1984, Orwell coined terms still in use today, such as “Doublethink,” meaning the ability to believe two contradictory ideas at the same time. It means telling lies while believing them and forgetting inconvenient facts. Other terms coined in the dystopian novel that may still be applicable today are: “Big Brother”, “Thought Police”, and “Unperson”.
George Orwell is the pen name of Eric Blair. In choosing this name, the author referred to St. George the patron saint of England and the River Orwell, in Suffolk, England, his family home.
Miller earned a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Michigan, where he served as editor of The Michigan Review. He is the author of several books, among them: The First Assassin, a novel set during the Civil War, and The Big Scrum: How Teddy Roosevelt Saved Football. He is the founder and executive director of the Student Free Press Association, which supports college journalism. On his faculty website it says: “Be Concise.” His personal website is www. HeyMiller.com.
Hillsdale College, located in southern Michigan, was founded in 1844 by abolitionist Free Will Baptist preachers. “Today, the college is known as a home for smart young conservatives who wish to engage seriously with the liberal arts,” according to an article in the April 10, 2023 edition of The New Yorker magazine. “Hillsdale education has several hallmarks: a devotion to the Western canon, an emphasis on primary sources over academic theory, and a focus on equipping students to be able, virtuous citizens.”
For those unable to attend the lecture, all ABC talks are available for viewing on demand at the ABC website: abcatchq.com
*(n. a system of government that is centralized and dictatorial and requires complete subservience to the state. Example: “democratic countries were fighting against totalitarianism”. – Dictionary.com)