“The opinion that art should have nothing to do with politics is itself a political attitude.”

Straightforward and raw. It’s hard not to love George Orwell, for he is the most honest writer I know.

The book “Why I Write” reveals Orwell's autobiography. Shortly, but with the most essential details, he talks about his thoughts and experiences from childhood to adulthood. It seems that writing and descriptive thinking were as natural to him as breathing.

What I love the most is that he dares to point out that egoism is one of the driving motives for writing. Many authors will suck themselves dry arguing against such a position, as they, ironically, see themselves above such selfish desires. But, as he says, the “desire to seem clever, to be talked about, to be remembered after death, to get your own back on grown-ups who snubbed you in childhood” is a solid factor to write. It takes humility to accept it.

I enjoyed this book, but it won’t stay with me. It’s excellent, so I give it four stars. For it to be five, the book must change something in me. Irreparably. “Animal Farm” and “1984” did just that.

“When I sit down to write a book, I do not say to myself, ‘I am going to produce a work of art.’ I write it because there is some lie that I want to expose, some fact to which I want to draw attention, and my initial concern is to get a hearing.”

This is a varied group of essays of equally fascinating proportions. Contrary to what the title led me to believe, not all of these centre around writing and this, instead, was only the title of the first essay in this collection of four.

The first and last essays, Why I Write and Politics and the English Language (of which I have a full review here) were both my particular favourites and the ones that dealt with purely the art of writing. I felt I learned a lot from both of these and are must-reads for any aspiring author.

The second essay, The Unicorn and the Lion, was the most politically concerned and took the largest segment of space, in this anthology. This dealt with Orwell's contemporary political climate but much of what he wrote could be adapted to our modern day society. His projections for the future were eerily accurate and made for a fascinating read.

The third essay, A Hanging, dealt with what the title suggests. This seemed the most random, and morbid, of the four essays collected here but on closer inspection was just as politically inclined as its neighbours. The hanging in question took place during wartime and it discusses the reactions of those witnessing the death, and many others before it.

Despite not being entirely the read I had anticipated, I found this a fascinating and worthy addition to my bookshelves, and have fallen in love with the minimalist beauty of the entire Penguin Great Ideas collection.

GENERAL:
- Orwell's thoughts on the political side of writing.

LIKES:
- It's Orwell, so the writing is superb.
- The last chapter on writing
- His thoughts on geopolitics were very interesting and informative.

DISLIKES:
- Thinks that India should not be independent.
- Wish he spent more time on the writing process.
- Felt like I understood what he was saying but didn't know enough to agree/disagree.

Sometimes it would be nice to get a little closer to the author of your favourite books. See things a little more from their perspective and, you know, really get inside their heads. There are various approaches which can be taken in order to achieve this. Isabelle Arundell was quite a big fan of the work produced by writer, explorer and all round fantasy-adventurer Richard Burton. She achieved closeness by monitoring his globe trotting adventures, hanging out in part of London which he frequented, reading all his books and eventually all this hard work paid off and she married him. Score! Of course this process took approximately ten years so unless you have a large savings account and the patience of a saint then this approach may not be for you.

There's also the Anne Wilkes in Misery approach. The eponymous film (and yes, I know it was a book first and foremost, before anyone comments!) starring James Caan showcased the best and most psychopathic way of bagging your own literary super star. Admittedly a lot of this relied purely on chance... Wilkes simply lucked out when author Paul Sheldon drunkenly "parks" his car in a giant snowdrift and she's the only one around to help. However, lopping off the limbs of your favourite writers is probably not the best way to ingratiate yourself or secure a starring role in their next book. Particularly if you're fond of chopping off their typing fingers.

Option number three is to get hold of an authors essays- in this case, George Orwell's "Why I write". If you're a fan of all things Orwellian then this is great little book which provides a framework for his literary life; experiences and ideas that Orwell used to create some of his literary masterpieces including 1984, Animal Farm and The Road to Wigan Pier. The four essays contained within this book (Why I write, The Lion and the Unicorn, A Hanging and Politics and the English Language) provide intriguing insights into Orwell's life experiences including the development of his political ideology in the 1930s and 1940s, his time in Burma and a short and personal discussion on the decrepitude of the English Language (if only he'd lived to see how much more bloody the butchering of the English Language has become). Short, informative and excellent.

However, if none of the above appeal to you and you're not prepared to read essays or simply wait for your favourite author to conveniently drop into your lap then perhaps hanging around outside Waterstones with a sack, some duct tape and hopeful look on your face is a better route.

مقدمه فوق العاده اى براى همه نوشته هاى جورج اورول

Orwell can do wonders with merely 4 pages. Whenever I read him be it 1984 or just a short essay, it invokes a great deal of mixed emotions.

Why I write is a short essay on Orwell’s writing journey which started at an early age of 4 or 5. I recommend it to anyone who has read anything by Orwell, especially if found any of Orwell’s works unlikable. This essay would give you great insights into why he wrote what he wrote and the circumstances that made him the Orwell.

Being the middle child of 3 with gap of 5 years on either side, Orwell had somewhat a lonely childhood and had developed habit of imagining fictional persons and having conversations with them. (I’m not sure but I guess these habits are very common in young kids, at least I and all of my friends whom I’ve asked had them).

During his childhood, he was making up a continuous story about himself that only existed in his mind. “He pushed the door open and entered the room. A yellow beam of sunlight, filtering through the muslin curtains, slanted on to the table, where a match-box, half-open, lay beside the inkpot. With his right hand in his pocket he moved across to the window. Down in the street a tortoiseshell cat was chasing a dead leaf..” And he seemed to be making this descriptive effort almost against this will.

When he was 16, he knew what kind of books he wanted to write - “enormous naturalistic novels with unhappy endings, full of detailed descriptions and arresting similes, and also full of purple passages in which words were used partly for the sake of their own sound.”

Why he wrote the kind of novels he wrote : -
According to Orwell, the subject matters on which an author writes depends primarily on the age he lived in. By the time he decides what he wants to write, he already has developed an emotional attitude that determines his writing style and ideas and he can never escape that. And if he does, it kills his impetus to write.

In Orwell’s words, there are 4 great motives for writing - some of them are also applicable in almost all the professions in the world :
1) Sheer Egoism - The desire to seem clever, to be known and remembered after death and to get your own back on the ones who snubbed you in the childhood seem to be the strongest motive which writers also share with successful professionals in almost all fields.
2) Aesthetic enthusiasm - The perception of beauty in the world and desire to share it with others, Orwell says, is quite weak in a lot of writers.
3) Historical impulse - The curiosity to find out true facts and desire to spread them to all the future generations of people.
4) Political purpose - The desire to push the world in a certain direction, to alter other people; idea of the kind of society that they should strive after. According to Orwell, no book is genuinely free from political bias. The opinion that art should have nothing to do with politics is itself a political attitude.

Orwell thinks that first 3 motives were naturally stronger in him than fourth and if he were born in a peaceful age, he might have written merely descriptive books. But circumstances and the revolutionary age in which he lived made him write more powerful books with certain political bias and detachment. In his words, "when he lacked the political purpose he wrote lifeless books and was betrayed into purple passages, sentences without meaning, decorative adjectives and humbug." Spending 5 years in the Indian Imperial Police, in Burma, gave him some understanding of imperialism and increased his dislike for authority. After the Spanish war and other events in 1936-37, everything he wrote was directly or indirectly against totalitarianism and for democratic socialism. He didn’t write to produce a work of art but because there was some lie he wanted to expose, some fact to which he wanted to draw an attention to. “If I had not been angry about that, I would never have written that book.”

Orwell is one of the very few writers who has created something literary work that turned my world upside down so I maybe a bit biased but it's a great short essay and everyone who has ever read Orwell should definitely read it.

I was hoping for an inspirational writing advice book, but this wasn't it. The only essay about writing was the first one, and it was only 10 pages long.

لماذا أكتب؟

عنوان مخادع نوعاً ما، فهو يوهمك أنك مقبل على كتاب يتحدث فيه أورويل وباستفاضة عن كتاباته، تخيلت وأنا أشتري الكتاب – بلا تصفح ما دام لأورويل – كل الحديث الذي سيدور عن (1984) و(مزرعة الحيوان) و(متشرداً في باريس ولندن) و(الطريق إلى رصيف ويغان) و(الحنين إلى كاتالونيا) و(ابنة القس)، تخيلت تلك اللحظات الحميمة عندما يعطف كتاب عملاق على قرائه فيمسك بأيديهم ويقودهم إلى الشوارع الخلفية لحياته، كيف تحولت مواقف ما وشخصيات ما إلى كتب مذهلة، ولكن القراءة الأولية أصابتني بخيبة أمل، فالكتاب ليس كما حلمت، وإنما هو مجموعة مقالات مختلفة لأورويل أحدها بعنوان (لماذا أكتب؟)، هذه الخيبة تبددت سريعاً، حالما اكتشفت الوجه الآخر لأورويل، كاتب المقالات الممتع والجميل، هكذا قنعت بما بين يدي وصرت أتنقل بين (واقعة شنق) شهدها أورويل في بورما، وقصة صيده لفيل، والذكريات الممتعة لعمله في محل لبيع الكتب، واعترافاته كمراجع كتب، ورؤيته حول الكتب الجيدة الرديئة، ومشاهداته المؤلمة في مراكش، مقالات عن هتلر والحرب العالمية الثانية، عن القنبلة النووية، غاندي، مارك توين، الشاي، جريمة القتل الإنجليزية، رحلات جيلفر، وهجوم تولستوي على شكسبير، ولكن أهم مقالين برأيي هما أطول مقالين، حيث الأول عن الأدب الإنجليزي بعنوان (داخل الحوت) والثاني (لماذا أكتب؟) عن دوافع أورويل الكتابية.

It is a short book, but still, I had to skim through it and jump over some lines to get to the finish line.
But finishing it, I felt some new ideas forming in my mind.
The second chapter "The lion and the Unicorn" was too long and boring to me. but for some unknown reason the following part shouted out to me loud and clear:

"Patriotism has nothing to do with Conservatism. It is actually the opposite of Conservatism, since it is a devotion to something that is always changing and yet is felt to be mystically the same. It is the bridge between the future and the past. No real revolutionary has ever been an internationalist."

I agree with Orwell on his suggestion about political writing and apparently it works. As evidence we may simply refer to Orwell's writings which have been very well received and are among the most influential in their own genre.

القراءة الثالثة والرائعة لجورج أورويل
هذا الرجل البارع القادر علي تصوير أبسط الأفكار بإسلوب ممتع يجعلك لا تتوقف عن القراءة
فتجد في هذا الكتاب عالماً منوعا من المقالات البسيطة أجملها بحق حديثه عن فترة عمله في متاجر الكتب .. ونماذج القراء الذين قابلهم في حياته .. ونماذج المؤلفين ..
وحياته بين الأرفف المتربة الممتلئة بالكتب القديمة ذات الأطراف الممزقة ..
ولكنها رغم كل هذا تبقي جميلة في رائحتها وموضوعاتها ، وجميلة في زمانها أيضاَ .. فلقد مر زمنها .. وأخذ معه قراءها !

وليس الحديث عن الكتب فقط ..
فتجد تفسيرا مختلفا لرحلات جليفر مثلا ..
فلو كنت شاهدت الفيلم ستتخيله مع كل سطر من أورويل ..

وحديثه عن روايته الأجمل مزرعة الحيوان ..

وتجد مثلاً مقالا عن عمل الشاي !!!
ولكنه جميل في بساطته ..
فأنت تتعجب من قدرته علي تصويره لكوب من الشاي الهندي الثقيل !
/
جورج أورويل .. قريبا جدا سأعود إليك
(:

عندما أجلس لكتابة كتاب لا أقول لنفسي"سوف أنتج عملاً فنيًا". أكتبه؛ لأن هناك كذبة ما أريد فضحها، حقيقة ما أريد إلقاء الضوء عليها ص13

George Orwell is a genius and I hope to read more of his works soon.