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So I was on the hypothetical tube the other day. And I got into a discussion about literature with one of the other theoretical passengers. We began by discussing Fernando Pessoa, Samuel Richardson and Miguel de Cervantes (in this hypothetical I am far better read than I am in practice), until my interlocutor conveniently happened to say, ‘There's never a bad time to read George Orwell.’

To which I (would have) replied, ‘Oh-ho! That's just where you're wrong!’*

Because there is exactly one bad time to read Orwell. Yes, he may have been one of the finest authors of the 20th century, and yes, he may have left us books that are both remarkable works of art and weaponized myths in the fight against authoritarianism. But if you are in tertiary education and you are frustrated by the willfully obscure style of writing that is both pushed on you in the criticism you study and tacitly encouraged in your own output, then it is a bad time to read Orwell's ‘Politics and the English Language’. Don't click that link. You might never graduate.

If (as I did) you do happen to read that essay in the final year of your degree, your patience with the ugly, incomprehensible, lazy language that is a mainstay of academic writing about writing may go from strained to completely fubar. You may become sickened by all the sentences like Rube Goldberg devices – pieces of elaborate misdirection in a trick designed to make you think the writer has insight – and you may despair. So probably best not.

But, apart from that one exception, the rule holds: it's always a good time to read Orwell.

And the great thing is that The Orwell Prize started publishing Orwell's diaries in blog form on Saturday. Each entry is going online 70 years to the day after it was written – and, even though I'm hypothetically extremely well read, Orwell's diaries are something I've missed until now, so I'm looking forward to having them conveniently fed to me through my RSS reader.

After all, he produced some extraordinary books, and 'Politics and the English Language' (included here and here) is something every person who writes or wants to write for a living – or even just cares about good writing – should read. Even if they're then still going to break Orwell's 2nd rule by wasting syllables on ‘interlocutor’ and publish shamefully ugly phrases like ‘weaponized myths’.

Alan
Copywriter (somehow)

*Man, I was worried that preamble would seem awkward, but I think I got away with it. Phew.

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Comments

[Scott Marlowe]

I just finished listening to the audiobook version of 1984. I hadn't read it since either or both of high school and college. It's a bleak, chilling tale that still resonates today despite the fact that the world has changed drastically since the first time I read it.

[Maria @ Stickers & Donuts]

"Politics & the English Language" is great! And an Orwell's Diaries blog?! That's such a good idea. Thanks for sharing!