Writer 1879: Solitary Journey in France

Chapter 549 The Martyr Who Withstood the Empire's First Strike!
The London ban reached India in mid-September.

The telegram first went to Bombay, then forwarded to Calcutta. The Governor-General's clerk made two copies, one for filing and one for the Propaganda Department.

The section chief glanced at it, frowned, and then tucked it under a stack of pending documents.

He told his deputy, "It's London's troubles again. Don't rush things, wait a couple of days."

The deputy nodded. They both knew that such emergency orders from within the country often amounted to much ado about nothing.

Last year, there was a telegram saying that the quarantine of goods should be strengthened to prevent the spread of cholera, but this year even the budget for the quarantine station has not been approved.

The ban sat in the document basket for three days. In those three days, the British merchant ship "Bombay Star" had already unloaded its cargo.

Besides popular items like typewriters, bicycles, and steam engine parts, the cabin also contained ten boxes of the latest issue of "Good Words" magazine.

These magazines were quickly delivered to bookstores in downtown Kolkata.

--------

After finishing get off work, Surendra, the accountant of the hemp textile company, did not go home but went directly to Zorasanko in North Kolkata, a rather old-looking house.

After a gentle knock, a servant opened the door and led him into the inner room, where his friends were already waiting.

Two of them were lawyers, both of whom had studied in London; one was named Ashok, and the other was named Niraj.

Another was a journalist named Bimar who wrote for the Bangladesh Daily. The other three were young people working in the trading company, just like him.

The last one sat quietly by the window. He was the owner of the house and the initiator of this small book club.

His name is Rabindranath Tagore.

He was a young man, just twenty years old. His family wanted him to study law, so they sent him to London, but he only wanted to write poetry, so he returned home before graduating.

He is now a leading figure in the entire Kolkata Youth Reading Club.

Surendra was surprised to find that everyone was not reading the newly released book "Good Words," but listening to the lawyer named Ashok reading something.

He held a small booklet, speaking with great emotion and a strong, clear voice; his English was a standard London accent.

Surendra arrived just in time; the story has only just begun.

A minor civil servant named Winston works in the Ministry of Truth of the British Empire, where his daily work involves editing old newspapers and archives.

Upon reading this, reporter Bimal chuckled: "Isn't that exactly what those people in the press office do? Turn bad news into good news."

Ashok continued reading, but when he got to "OLD LADY IS WATCHING YOU," he unconsciously stopped.

The room fell silent.

Tagore spoke up, asking softly, "Could you read that sentence again?"

Ashok read it again, emphasizing it: "OLD LADY IS WATCHING YOU."

Tagore nodded without speaking. He picked up a pen and wrote a line of Bengali on a piece of paper.

He wrote: "(She has been watching you all)"

After he finished writing, he pushed the paper to the center of the table. Several people gathered around to look.

"This 'she'... refers to the Queen?"

"It could refer to many things. The Governor's House, the Inland Revenue Department, the Police Department, the Archives... all those things that 'watch' us."

Ashok continued reading. He read quickly, to the part about Winston's arrest, the interrogation by the "Ministry of Love," the iron cage containing the rats…

He paused again when he read the part where Winston screamed and betrayed his lover Julia to avoid being bitten on the face by rats.

After a long silence, Surendra finally spoke, trembling: "So fear can make people betray everything?"

Tagore shook his head: "It's not fear, it's the rule of the British Empire. Its rule both created fear and exploited it."

Mr. Sorel wrote very clearly—the British Empire doesn't actually need everyone to be loyal to it, it only needs everyone to fear it!

Ashok gradually read to the last few pages. Winston was released and met Julia on the street. Both knew the other had betrayed them, but they remained calm.

Finally, Winston sat in the café, looking at the "OLD LADY" poster on the wall, his heart filled with love. He returned to the "Ministry of Friendship" and calmly accepted his death sentence.

Upon hearing this, Tagore couldn't help but shudder: "The most terrifying thing is that he eventually fell in love with the very thing that once terrified him!"

That day, the supplement called "1984" was passed around among several people and read over and over again.

After reading it, people often walk to the window and look out at Calcutta.

This city is a creation of England; the port, railway, courts, schools, prisons—everything was built according to British blueprints.

They live, work, and earn money here, but they are also constantly being "watched."

The police were watching, the tax collectors were watching, the British teachers at the school were watching, and the British managers at the company were watching.

Now, a Frenchman has written a book about this feeling of being "watched," and even given it a title: "OLD LADY IS WATCHING YOU."

The next day, Rabindranath Tagore began translating 1984, rewriting it into Bengali.

He didn't translate the entire book, but only selected key passages—the opening setting, the slogan, the interrogation scene, and the ending. He even removed the year "1984" and changed it to "The End of Freedom."

He also removed specific British place names, replacing them with the vague "Center of the Empire".

After he finished translating, he first showed it to the reporter, Bimal.

Bimal glanced at the few pages of paper in his hand and shook his head: "It can't be published. It won't pass censorship."

Tagore's tone was firm: "If you don't publish it in the newspaper, just copy it by hand. One person tells ten, ten tell a hundred."

Bimal sighed: "This is dangerous."

Tagore nodded: "Yes, it's dangerous. The book has already been banned in London. But the real danger isn't us, it's the people who ban the book. What are they afraid of?"

Bimal thought about it and this time didn't object. They made ten copies that day and gave them to ten trusted people. Those ten people then each made several copies.

In less than a week, intellectuals in Calcutta were privately discussing "that French book."

Some of them didn't know the whole book, only a few key sentences and the slogan: "She has always been watching you!"

The governor's decree was finally issued in late September. Police began searching bookstores and newsstands, demanding the surrender of supplements to "Good Words".

But they found very little—most of it had already been hidden away; the bookstore owner claimed that he burned the books as soon as he received the ban, and the ashes were dumped into the Hooghly River.

The police didn't believe it, of course, but after searching every bookstore, they found nothing.

In fact, three days before the search, these cunning bosses had already disassembled their copy of "1984" page by page and hidden it in different places—

They found it in ledger compartments, under floors, and inside pages of religious books. They only "assemble" it and sell it when someone is willing to pay a high price.

The ban has actually made the book more valuable. On the black market, a complete English copy of "1984" can sell for 10 rupees, ten times the original price of "Good Words".

Handwritten Bengali excerpts are cheaper, but also more dangerous—possessors are arrested if discovered.

In late September, something happened in Kolkata—a young student named Sachin suddenly raised his voice at the end of a street speech:

“They’re watching us! The Inland Revenue Department is watching, the Police Department is watching, the Governor’s House is watching! But we must ask—by what right? Why can they watch us, but we can’t watch them?”

Someone in the crowd immediately shouted, "Because they have guns!"

Sachin said, "Guns can only kill people, but they can't kill minds! London is now afraid of a book, a book written by a Frenchman! That book is called '1984,' and it contains the line—'She's always watching you!'"

When the police rushed over to arrest him, he had already jumped off the stage and disappeared into the crowd. But his words had already spread.

That night, Sachin hid at a friend's house, and his friend asked him, "Did you really read that book?"

Sachin shook his head: "I've only read a few pages of the manuscript, but that's enough. The important thing is that London is afraid of it. If London is afraid of it, then it's right."

My friend was silent for a moment, then asked, "That French author... his name is Sorel?"

Sachin nodded: “Lionel Sorel. He used to write letters for the poor in London, and now he’s been expelled for writing this book.”

"Did he really do that?"

"Yes, although he was French and we were Indian, we must remember him. He was the first person to speak the truth in London!"

--------

Similar situations spread like wildfire.

In Dublin, Ireland, news of the British ban on 1984 was almost immediately used by Irish nationalist newspapers as readily available evidence:

The empire's rule was not as leisurely as it claimed!
The slogan “OLD LADY IS WATCHING YOU” was printed on rough flyers and scribbled on corners and the back door of pubs.

No one here cared about the literary value of "1984," but at the gathering, the name "Lionel Sorel" was repeatedly mentioned.

He is regarded as a martyr who took the first blow of the British Empire for all the ruled!
In Alexandria, Egypt, intellectuals were not talking about novels, but rather the different wording used by French and British newspapers regarding the book ban.

Lionel's identity as a French author is repeatedly emphasized here—he came from a republic but was expelled by an empire.

This quickly established him as "the European who speaks for us."

Local newspapers were also implying that if the empire could not tolerate such expressions, then the colonies had no obligation to remain compliant.

Furthermore, in Hong Kong, Mumbai, Cape Town, Singapore, Penang… 1984 accomplished the same thing in different ways—

Tell everyone that the British Empire's rule relied not only on force and law, but also on the control of language!
……

Meanwhile, in Scotland Yard, far away in London, after compiling data from various locations via telegram, a startling fact was discovered:

The number of copies of "1984" they seized exceeded the total sales of the late August issue of "Good Words" by a significant margin.

There seems to be a mysterious force that is constantly spreading "1984" to every corner of the British Empire.

Amidst this turmoil, time unknowingly brought us to October 1882, when the uproar caused by "1984" nearly paralyzed the cabinet.

So, after a full month of "meticulous investigation" and "verbal summons"—

A long list of names appeared on the indictment list personally signed by Attorney General Sir Henry James.

(First update, last day of double monthly votes, please vote!)
(End of this chapter)