Orwell Warned Us, Ingrid Reminds Us About the Threats of Hidden Power

                                                           Ingrid is an engaging and disturbing work that is increasingly relevant as national and international politics play out daily. Robert Golino’s Ingrid reminds us of the personal responsibility required to protect freedoms and access to the truth. 

Nearly 40 years since the actual year 1984 has passed, and almost three-quarters of a century since George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984 was written, our everyday experience tells us that Orwell wrote less of a cautionary tale than—in some ways—an insightful prediction. Or at least we can now see that we have welcomed aspects of Big Brother, Thought Police, and newspeak into our own lives through our embrace of technology: in-home speakers always listening; CCTV cameras always watching; social media bots always persuading; cell phones always tracking, reporting, and transmitting curated versions of truth through which power is played out. Golino’s work prods us to consider what we have learned since the publication of 1984.

In Ingrid’s world, power is held by the Nile River Group (NRG), a mega-industrial giant that provides citizens their jobs, food, clothing—all practical necessities—and that requires employees to be loyal rules followers, to participate in community events, keeping the cultural fabric taut and consistent—ensuring that no one dares question the status quo. Unwittingly at first, a young adolescent girl becomes the hope for a future otherwise envisioned. Ingrid, the novel’s heroine, is not a messiah but a bright and eloquent innocent whose artistic abilities become a channel for highlighting undeniable truths, though it is not clear exactly who brings her into a well-organized challenge to NRG’s daunting grip on society.

Key to the story are paintings of Maxfield Parrish, whose works expressed the Art Nouveau values of nature, creative fantasy, human artistic efforts over manufactured products, and authenticity over industrial mass production. Fittingly, Art Nouveau artists resisted censorship, which echoes in Ingrid's tale of institutional control.

Author Golino explores tensions between art and technology, humanity and artificial intelligence, benevolence and control, selling big and selling out, surviving and thriving, and the powerful roles of technology, personal responsibility, and hegemony in the creation of culture. Who knows best, and whom can we trust? Read Ingrid for a haunting exploration of these themes.