Notes on Nationalism by George Orwell is the twenty third of The Essays that are placed on the 917th spot on The Greatest Books of All Time site, where an algorithm changes the places of the compilation, I don’t know what data is used, but if it takes into account the ‘reading public’, then the chefs d’oeuvre will descend into the abyss, and the likes of The Da Vinci Code will dominate the arena, and they will become the “GOAT” – nevertheless, you have more than five thousand reviews on books from the aforementioned site and others, with notes on films from The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made and other lists waiting for you on my blog and YouTube channel https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html

 

Notes on Nationalism by George Orwell is the twenty third of The Essays that are placed on the 917th  spot on The Greatest Books of All Time site, where an algorithm changes the places of the compilation, I don’t know what data is used, but if it takes into account the ‘reading public’, then the chefs d’oeuvre will descend into the abyss, and the likes of The Da Vinci Code will dominate the arena, and they will become the “GOAT” – nevertheless, you have more than five thousand reviews on books from the aforementioned site and others, with notes on films from The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made and other lists waiting for you on my blog and YouTube channel https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html

 

 

10 out of 10

 

The Essays of George Orwell https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/10/anti-semitism-in-britain-by-george.html have been outstanding so far, and seeing that this is already number twenty three, the probability that they are all stupendous is high, they may even surpass the other magnum opera of the author

 

It will be hard though to pass in front of Nineteen Eighty Four https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/12/nineteen-eighty-four-by-george-orwell.html given that this is the sixth masterpiece on The Greatest Books of All Time, except magnificent oeuvres are descending and banal works climb

 

Nationalism is an acute problem in the world today, just as Orwell has found various kinds in his time, the populists are winning elections in so many places, from America to Europe, if Emanuel Macron opts for elections, then the hard right (or the hard left) might come to power, and we are all going to suffer in the EU

“Somewhere or other Byron makes use of the French word longueur, and remarks in passing that though in England we happen not to have the word, we have the thing in considerable profusion. In the same way, there is a habit of mind which is now so widespread that it affects our thinking on nearly every subject, but which has not yet been given a name. As the nearest existing equivalent, I have chosen the word ‘nationalism’, but it will be seen in a moment that I am not using it in quite the ordinary sense, if only because the emotion I am speaking about does not always attach itself to what is called a nation – that is, a single race or a geographical area.”

 

Orwell identifies various types of nationalism, positive and negative, even the transferred kind, indeed, he mentions Napoleon, Hitler and Stalin, among others, ‘alien’ elements otherwise, men that came from elsewhere to push for the ‘advancement’ of nations that were not their own, such a counterintuitive thing

In The Essays we have points of view on a variety of issues https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/the-lion-and-unicorn-socialism-and.html political, literary, thoughts on Dickens, Yeats, P.G. Wodehouse and others, the author looks back at the Spanish Civil War and now at nationalists

 

Most of those believe in what we call today ‘conspiracy theories’ and/or fake news, because they have an obsession – they keep talking, writing about the superiority of their nation, group – they will establish what they want to say, and then they adapt the facts, or ignore them altogether, the nec plus ultra for this is Orange Woland

In the background, as I write these lines, I have Jon Stewart – after I have listened to Seth Meyers and Jimmy Kimmel – looking at the shutdown in the US, and other subjects for the other shows include the gathering of top generals and admirals to hear the idiot former Fox host talk nonsense, just like the stupid commander in chief

 

It is such an oxymoron to have those creatures talk about pride, their group being so superior, smart, fit, magnanimous, etc., when in fact we see that they are a bunch of losers (exactly what they say about the other side) and monsters

 

Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – I am on Goodreads as Realini Ionescu, at least for the moment, if I keep on expressing my views on Orange Woland aka TACO, it may be a short-lived presence

Also, maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the benefits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

 There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

 

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

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