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Why I Write (Penguin Great Ideas)

Penguin (Non-Classics)

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Orwell's unique talent as a writer

In the book, George Orwell, one of the most talented and gifted writers in the English world, depicts in a frank manner about his literary writing motives and how he reconciles aesthetic enthusiasm with his political purpose.

The book consists of 4 key chapters. Chapter 1 is a full introduction of his literary journey from childhood to adulthood. Orwell maintains that a writer's real experience in life can substantially determine his/her impulse to write (P.4). The four key motives in literary writing including sheer egoism, aesthetic enthusiasm, historical impulse, and political purpose exist in different degree in different writers, depending very much on the atmosphere he/she is living. To Orwell, the key motive to write is that he intends to tell devastating truths about non-individual and public activities with his literary writing skills without humbug, purple passages, meaningless sentences, and decorative adjectives (P.10).

Chapter 2 is about English politics during the Second World War. As a key champion of democratic Socialism, Orwell criticized decadent hypocritical and privileged high class who dominated every aspect of political and economic life in England but they failed to resist any serious war attack by Fascism (P.35). He maintained that England should undertake a wholehearted political change (P.48) if people intended not to be conquered by Hitler. Democratic Socialism could centralize all goods of production for armament purpose and unite people from top to bottom due to approximate equal distribution of income (Pp.74-76).

Chapter 3 was a hanging case in Burma. Orwell uses his literary writing skills to narrate the hanging process of a Hindu condemned prisoner. This unhappy narration is full of detailed descriptions and arresting scenario, and also full of purple passages in which Orwell's literary writing skills are demonstrated. From the condemned cell where the hanged Hindu squatted at to the gallows where the prisoner's neck was hanged for execution, Orwell looked at this sudden life and death process with great unhappiness but smiles. Chapter 4 is a critique of the decadent English language. Orwell maintains that a good piece of political writing should avoid having difficult and useless phrases and jargons (P.120) and it should be clear and meaning and short in words (P.119). In this chapter, Orwell illustrates how academicians and political writers use operators, pretension diction, dying metaphors, and meaningless words (Pp.106-109) to make their works to be a sheer humbug.

Writing can be a very exhaustive and horrible struggle, particularly for those who aspire to write a book. This book is highly recommended to readers who intend to think hard about how to write.

Not all the essays listed on the product page

This is a great little volume of three of Orwell's essays (aka Eric Blair essays). Unfortunately the product description page give the impression that more than three essays are included.

Why I England

Don't be fooled by the title. _Why I Write_ is not a discussion on how Orwell writes, when he started writing, what young writers should know about writing, what veterans should do about their own writing, etc. You'll get a five-page blurb in the beginning about how he was compelled to write and about how he tried to shy away from his dream, and then you get a seven-page blurb at the end about what not to do when you write (e.g., don't use cliches, don't use more words than necessary, don't use a long word when a short word will do, etc.). The rest of it is a discussion about England, Germany, and the history of the times.

Don't get me wrong, the history is interesting, learning about countries and their characteristics and Orwell's thoughts on politics at the time. We learn about British habits and how the meaning of the word "Fascism" has changed from what it originally meant. But we don't learn anything about what we thought the book would be about: Writing.

Flip past page 11 to find out whether or not to buy this book. If you don't like that stuff, just read the beginning and the end. Save yourself the money. And if you're looking for a book that's actually about creative writing, go for King's _On Writing_ or Bradbury's _Zen in the Art of Writing_.

Pocket-sized Orwell

Why I Write (Penguin Great Ideas)
Like other releases in the Penguin "Great Ideas" series, this edition of Orwell's essays will fit easily into a purse or a hip pocket. That, plus the fact that it is priced to fit its brevity (120 small pages), makes it an attractive product. Carry it around with you for no more than a few days and in your spare time fit in between other activities you can read four of Orwell's most notable essays.

In the title essay, "Why I Write," he offers four possible reasons, but says that he had come around to just one in his serious efforts since the Spanish war of 1936-37: political purpose, against totalitarianism and for democratic socialism. He claims that where he previously lacked political motivation he wrote just humbug.

"The Lion and the Unicorn: Socialism and the English Genius" outlines Orwell's take on the character of the English people and his case for socialism. First published in 1940 when the future of England was in doubt, this essay holds historical interest. Certain of Orwell's opinions and forecasts now seem right on, but others off the mark. For example, he expresses too much confidence in the ability of the state to efficiently decide how much of what goods should be produced (though perhaps an understandable position in the face of war time shortages).

"A Hanging" describes exactly that, an event in Burma in about 1931. Some have questioned whether Orwell really witnessed this episode, but no matter, the pathos holds whether it is fact or fiction.

The final piece, "Politics and the English Language," exposes how political actors use language to mislead, quotes several passages illustrating certain "mental vices" writers often commit, and catalogs six rules for good writing (for instance, never use a long word where a short one will do). In these four selections Orwell mostly follows his own advice: the essays are exemplary in their clarity.

Question is: Why Should I Buy this particular "Why I write?" Compilation?

In evaluating "Why I write?," I am not evaluating Orwell: he is - in my opinion - beyond evaluation. Brilliant, unorthodox, humanistically transparent - he is a model of existential integrity. In evaluating "Why I write?" I am offering an evaluation of this particular compilation of essays. I am trying to answer the question of "Why should I buy the 'Why I write?'"

This particular compilation of Orwell's essays consists of "Why I write?," The Lion and the Unicorn," "A Hanging," and "Politics and the English Language." As you might have already gleaned from you search, the books of Orwell's essays are all over the market place. This one - consisting of four iconic essays - is a great primer.

The "Why I write?" humbles with introspection and humanistic self-acceptance. "The Lion and the Unicorn" showcases Orwell's keen journalism and the capacity to be on the outside of the phenomenon in question, even when that phenomenon is his own culture. "A Hanging" is a normalizing glimpse into how we deal with our own mortality superimposed onto a social statement against capital punishment. And the "Politics and the English Language" is a brilliant examination of the human consciousness, a study of the interplay of thought and language, an anti-dote to propoganda, a treasure trove of linguistic hypotheses, and, if nothing else, a useful commentary on the rationale behind the "1984" Newspeak and Doublethink.

As such, this particular collection of Orwell's essays reveals the breadth of his thematic spectrum - without the biographical weight of more exhaustive essay compilations.

Pavel Somov, Ph.D.

Author of "Eating the Moment: 141 Mindful Practices to Overcome Overeating One Meal at a Time" (New Harbinger, 2008)