I last read this essay, written in 1945 and first published in Horizon, when studying O Level English in the 1950’s. His views on the debasement of language and linguistic decline are still pertinent and his contention that ‘political speech and writing are largely the defence of the indefensible’ could not be better put. The Bodleian Library’s reprint, edited by D J Taylor, also reminds us of the clarity and elegance of Orwell’s literary output.
(Jeremy Miller - bwl 113 Summer 2024 ) |
