Orwell, George — Nineteen eighty-four [1079]

For a moment he had had an overwhelming hallucination of her presence. She had seemed to be not merely with him, but inside him. It was as though she had got into the texture of his skin. In that moment he had loved her far more than he had ever done when they were together and free. Also he knew that somewhere or other she was still alive and needed his help. — Orwell, George, Nineteen eighty-four, 1079

Note

The image of Julia ‘inside him, in the texture of his skin’ conjures intimacy as a physical invasion of the self — and the involuntary cry that follows reveals the absolute impasse of the interrogation: the one involuntary, non-compliant thing left is the love he cannot extinguish.