George Orwell's 1946 essay, "Politics and the English Language," has rightly become, not just a modern literary milestone, but a touchstone text of a liberal education, one found in practically every textbook used in freshman English classes in colleges across the country. In this piece from All Things Considered, Clarity Is the Remedy (9/22/06 - 4:05), writer Lawrence Wright discusses his own admiration for the piece, "which I first read as a freshman at Tulane University and immediately adopted as my guide":Orwell's proposition is that modern English, especially written English, is so corrupted by bad habits that it has become impossible to think clearly. The main enemy, he believed, was insincerity, which hides behind the long words and empty phrases that stand between what is said and what is really meant.The NPR site provides a link to the original essay, which is also available, along with a host of other Orwell material, at Charles' Orwell site. Note that the site claims that Orwell's works are in the public domain in Canada, where this site is hosted.
Musings
- One explanation of the enduring popularity of this piece is that it appeals to both the political left and right, to both conservatives and progressives.
- Orwell's point is that how we describe the world is of crucial importance; furthermore, that some language hides the truth from us (and is thus used to manipulate us) while other language (that which is clear, for instance) helps us to see the world as it really is. How does such an analysis apply to what has become the dominant decriptive metaphor of our age--that we are engaged in a "war on terror"? Does this phrase help or hinder our seeing the struggle we are engaged in?
