well... i've just finished reading a book by g.orwell "a clergyman's daughter". if you happen to know g.orwell you probably read 1984 or animal farm. this book is different. it's a novel, which is (quite) realistic. the story takes place in 30's in england. the main character is dorothy hare. her father is an anglican priest in kent. she's 28 and her life is set on a core faith. orwell has described greatly the image of changing society - the church is loosing its influence upon people and moreover is full of internal quarrels among various fractions. dorothy is working hard but she has no chance - citizens don't care much about their souls anymore. abruptly, we find dorothy in london, after eight days. she has simply lost her memory and now she couldn't remember, who she is, or what shoud she do. he meets three vagabonds and decides to join them as they are going to travel to farms where they want to work as hops pickers (huh, i'm not sure whether this is the right word, but you know what i mean). she's experiencing really hard days, but after seeing an article in newspaper, she realizes, who she is. after returning to london (because her father seems not to care about her) she wants to find a job - but without a chance. when she spend all her money, she's forced to become a begger. nothing to eat, nowhere to go, no place to sleep... she's rescued by her cousin. he's a member of aristocracy and a rich man. she becomes a teacher on a private school. the conditions are incredibly awful. girls have to learn by heart useless facts and copy dull compositions instead of creative thinking. all the teaching is ruled by ignorant parents, which demand strictly 'practical lessons'. dorothy's attempts to encourage children's potential are quickly denied (eg. shakespear is too indecnt and thus she has to stop reading his books. yes, this IS 20th century). in atmosphere of boredom and frustration she's been working half a year. after that she's fired, but luckilly in the very same time the situation in her hometown is getting better and she could return. she's quickly re-adapting to her previous life, but in the moment of losing her memory she has also lost her faith and most of the rituals are now just dull phrases and acts.
the novel itself wasn't maybe that good - but for me it is an astonishing image of still a very recent period. and yet so different! as a typical middle-class student i was filled with indignation - how it's actually possible, that all my beliefs are based on current focus, ignoring the facts about history. i realized, that if i was born in the beginnig of the century i would probably become a socialist or an anarchist. read this and thank god, you live NOW. but... somehow i can't get rid of the very 'strange' feeling. if you know, that the problems, orwell's describing, the poverty etc. were just shifted aside of our sight to so called 'third world' - then how can we feel not ashamed? the majority of population on our planet has even worse conditions and we're behaving like nothing is happening and everything is all right. a maximum we are able to do is to talk... phrases and opinions and stuff. that's why i'm fed up - i'm behaving just in the same way.
be sure to read it and experience another view on (yet previous) century. and maybe on the contemporary situation as well.

for interested ppl - more information on g.orwell: an english page or a czech page.

          adamm