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alixtiiAn interpretation of 1984 that I would never have been able to come up with on my own, even after two years in fandom:
I can see Winston/O'Brien as slashable, but it'd never occurred to me I'd find in my research an argument that it was canon.
Needless to say, I've ordered the Easthope source cited here from the library, just to see it in its cracked-out glory. Goddess, I love literary criticism.
From Orwell as a (Neo)conservative by Philip Goldstein.
[Anthony] Easthopre also argues [in "Fact and Fantasy in Nineteen Eighty-Four" in Inside the Myth] that Winston and Julia's resistance does not affirm the public values of individuality, autonomy, love, and truth: rather, the fictional status of the text betrays itself because O'Brien triumph represents sexual fantasy, not historical truth. In this fantay, Winston, who frequently shows misogynist feelings, disavows Julia and heterosexual desire, accepts his unconscious homosexuality, and loves O'Brien and Big Brother.
I can see Winston/O'Brien as slashable, but it'd never occurred to me I'd find in my research an argument that it was canon.
Needless to say, I've ordered the Easthope source cited here from the library, just to see it in its cracked-out glory. Goddess, I love literary criticism.