June 25: On This Day in 1903 - George Orwell

June 25, 1903: Engish satirist, George Orwell (born Eric Arthur Blair), was born in Mothiari, Bengal on this day. George Orwell was Blair's pseudonym.

Orwell achieved prominence in the 1940s, writing two excellent satires that attacked totalitarianism: Animal Farm (1945) and Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949). Both books reflect his distrust of autocratic government; with Animal Farm showing the destructive nature of Stalinism and Nineteen Eighty-Four portraying a dystopian society that focuses on a repressive, totalitarian regime.

He was also well-known for his essays, literary reviews, poetry, and polemic journalism. In his essay, "Politics and the English Language," he criticizes the effects of bureaucratic euphemism and clichés, while providing these six rules for writers.

• Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.

• Never use a long word where a short one will do.

• If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.

• Never us the passive voice where you can use the active.

• Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.

• Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

His focus on the power of language in shaping reality is apparent in the invention of Newspeak in the novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four, the official language of the imaginary country Oceania. Newspeak is a variant of the English language where vocabulary is changed and limited by the government to make it challenging to express ideas.

George Orwell has influenced many with his incredible use of satire and wit. His ability to critically observe politics resulted in almost prophetic-like visions of the future. His criticism of capitalism, fascism, Stalinism, and imperialism was bold and inspiring; remaining true to his goal which was “What I most wanted to do is to make political writing into an art.” I say, mission accomplished.

Comments

[Shay]

Oooooh..... Orwell!!! Definitely one of my very, very favorite authors!
Yet there is so much I did not know about him.
Thank you Jinxi for, once again, contributing to my wealth of knowledge! Or should I say, for diminishing my lack of knowledge??
Either way, YaYaY!
~Shay

[Kat]

Orwell is a genius. Always inspiring. Thanks for the history about him, Jinxi.