Why I Write (2006)

By George Orwell
This books is actually made up of four of Orwell’s essays, of which “Why I write” is the first and one of the shortest. The longest, which makes up the bulk of this volume, is called “The Lion and the Unicorn” and is a call for the reform of England’s system of government. Orwell wrote this essay in 1940, during the World War II, and it is interesting to compare Orwell’s hopes for the transformation of England (and of other countries) to the changes that actually occurred. I think Orwell would have been disappointed, having strong leanings towards socialism. I must look up when 1984 and Animal Farm were written, because they seem to present a fairly gloomy view of the future and of human nature, in contrast to the feeling of hope that permeates this piece of writing.

Apart from Orwell’s apparent fondness for the word “got”, a word I despise (The Lion and the Unicorn is full of “We’ve got to do this” and “We’ve got to do that”), I think Orwell is my ultimate writing role model hero pin-up boy and I’m going to read all his books. His writing is so good! (Concise, smooth, seamless…). Also, his writing has a passion behind it, which never hurts, and it is nice to read something infused with a sense of energy and hope for a change – so many books have a melancholy air. (I’m looking at you, Tolstoy and Murakami).

This book is part of the “Great Ideas” series that has recently been published by Penguin Books. Other titles in the series include Machiavelli’s The Prince, Darwin’s On Natural Selection, Nietzsche’s Why I am So Wise, Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own and, one I personally can’t wait to read, Hazlitt’s On the Pleasure of Hating. Expand your brain now!!

Rating: 9 out of 10