JAMES LILEKS: “I’m looking forward to the female-centric retelling of 1984.”
Really. There’s no prohibition on telling other sides of a famous story it’s all the rage these days. We retell Oz from the Witch’s point of view, 101 Dalmations from the dog-napper’s side. The trick will be making Julia adhere to the book, and I don’t think that will happen. What we know of her will be chalked up to the Male Gaze, and the character will take inspiration from Susanna Hamilton’s stern performance in the remarkable movie of the same name, and year. She radiates a fierce sense of self-contained power and intelligence.
The Julia of the book is a rather shallow. Almost lightweight.
Publisher Granta said that Julia understands the world of Oceania “far better than Winston and is essentially happy with her life”.
See, that’s not quite right. She has no interest in understanding it at all. She’s “essentially happy” in the sense that a file clerk in Hitler’s office was happy in 1941.
Read the whole thing.