Imlisanen Jamir
People these days tend to think of George Orwell as a writer for high school students since his reputation now rests on two late novels--Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty Four—that are seldom read outside the classroom.
But through most of his career, Orwell was known for his journalism and his rigorous unsparing essays which documented a time that seems in some ways so much like our own.
At the end of the Second World War, one form of totalitarianism—fascism—had been defeated but another—communism—was spreading across Europe and Asia.
Orwell’s own country England was suffering through a political crisis. It was then in 1946 that Orwell wrote his great essay, 'Politics and the English Language', which I first read as a high school student and immediately strove to adopt as a guide.
Over the years I've gone back to it repeatedly like a student visiting an old professor who always has something new to reveal.
Orwell’s proposition is that modern language 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.
A scrupulous writer, Orwell notes, will ask himself, what am I trying to say? What words will express it? What fresh image will make it clearer? Have I said anything that is avoidable ugly?
Orwell was a supremely political writer, having waged a lifelong campaign against totalitarianism and indeed for him all issues were political issues and politics itself a mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred and schizophrenia.
Orwell’s candour, his steadiness, his stern and scrupulous impartiality are qualities that make this essay still sound contemporary and urgent. The secret of Orwell's timelessness is that he doesn't seek to please or entertain. Indeed he captures a reader with a style as intimate and frank as a handshake.
The essay optimistically sets forward six simple rules; guidelines that anyone, not just professional writers can follow. We will not touch on all of them here, instead read them yourselves. But let us speak about rule number one,which is, never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech that you're used to seeing in print.
For many, including me, that's the hardest role. Clichés like cockroaches in the cupboard quickly infest a careless mind. I constantly struggle with the prefabricated phrases that substitute for simple clear prose.
Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable. One cannot change this all in a moment but one can at least change one's own habits.
Orwell wasn't interested in decorative writing but his straightforward declarative style has a snap in it that few other writers have ever approached.
In a time when politics in language once again seem to be at odds, perhaps this essay can make us remember that clarity is the remedy.
Comments can be sent to imlisanenjamir@gmail.com
