جنون الطغيان عند فولر وأورويل / The Madness of Tyranny in the Works of Fuller and Orwell

Ali Al-Ghamdi

Program

ALIF

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http://www.jstor.org/stable/521781

All Authors

الغامدي, علي أحمد علي; Al-Ghamdi, Ali

Document Type

Research Article

Publication Title

Alif: Journal of Comparative Poetics

Publication Date

1994

doi

https://www.doi.org/10.2307/521781

Abstract

[Thomas Fuller (1601-68) is not generally regarded for the insight of his abstract observations but for the frequent cleverness of his conceits and the striking wit of his style and language in his often amalgamous biographies. Yet at the very end of The Holy and the Profane State (1642), after characterizing sundry types of virtuous and ignoble people, and illustrating these types with representative biographies interspersed, Fuller offers a remarkable abstract analysis in a chapter entitled "The Tyrant" that to modern ears has surprising prophetic resonance. In that chapter Fuller provides a detailed analysis of the dynamics of tyranny and its effect on the psychology of the tyrant who constantly lives in fear of being assassinated, suffers from chronic insomnia, or attempts to rewrite history to cover up for his criminal deeds. Similarly, George Orwell's (1903-50) work on tyranny has been widely studied and acclaimed, yet sadly none of these studies or acclamations has acknowledged the surprisingly close relation of that work to Fuller's, especially as it relates to ideas on tyranny and the role it plays in rewriting history. Fuller should be highly admired for laying out in a clear, accurate, organized, and insightful manner the main themes that Orwell was to employ so successfully three hundred years later.]

First Page

119

Last Page

135

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