George Orwell's
essay from 1943, entitled Can Socialists Be Happy? is a great quick read.
Basically Orwell argues that happiness comes from its contrast with work, sadness, poverty, etc. In literature, Orwell argues, there are few convincing depictions of heaven (in western art there are so few depictions I only found paintings of the Ascension of Christ to heaven)
Giotto
1304
The Asencion
Rembrandt
1636
The Ascension
while there are many depictions of hell itself.
Reubens
The Damned Falling to Hell
Rodin
Gates of Hell
Orwell then parallels the literary comparison of depictions of heaven and hell with the description of Utopias,
From Thomas More's Utopia
and depictions of the modern state.
Socialism and socialist thinkers, he argues, should aim to create a state where brotherhood and compassion reign, rather than happiness because happiness is too abstract a concept to build a society on, a notion Orwell backs with evidence from literature.
It is interesting to re-read Orwell's "political fiction" like 1984 and Animal Farm after reading his essays and other non-fiction works. His style which synthesized politics and narrative was pioneering. Contemporary films like Children of Men,
and V for Vendetta owe much to Orwell's legacy.
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