Tillie Olsen has a wonderful essay critically reflecting on _1984_ called "The Word Made Flesh" (1984)--all I have for a citation is that it's a H.W. Reninger Lecture, the 12th Annual--perhaps it's floating around on the web somewhere. She gently rebukes Orwell for "not taking into account the 'other' content of human history; his not seeing 'things as they are and therefore as they might also be.'"
Jenny Brown (the weather here remains gorgeous)