Life, Literature, And Freedom

There was never a sequel to 'Animal Farm',
the classic barnyard parable that paralleled
the wartime leadership of the Soviet Union,
an empire and Union that outlived 
George Orwell by forty one years.

But had Orwell lived just a few years longer,
at least until 1958, he would have read
the denunciations of the 'cult of personality'
of Joseph Stalin, who in 'Animal Farm'
was satirised as 'Napoleon', the pig.

He would have had the transcript
of Khrushchev's secret speech
which would have been rich material
for the further dystopian episodes 
in the animal life on  'Animal Farm'. 

Systems that justify dictatorships
usually outlive both their founders,
and their critics. Orwell died
three years before Joseph Stalin,
whose cult of personality lumbers on,
reanimated by Vladimir Putin.

One exception to that rule is in the example
of one of Stalin's successors Enver Hoxha,
leader of Albania from 1944 to 1985,  
and his bette noir, writer Ismail Kadare.

Like Orwell, Kadare dared to write
about the life and history of his country
with less flattery than his leader liked.

Orwell died young, Kadare not only survived
the country he grew up in, but fled to Paris,
where he is now nearly ninety and still writing.

Kadare said something of which Orwell would be proud;
"Literature led me to freedom, not the other way round.".