Politics and the English Language

Politics and the English Language
Author: George Orwell
Publisher: Renard Press Ltd
Total Pages:
Release: 2021-01-01
Genre: Literary Collections
ISBN: 1913724271

George Orwell set out ‘to make political writing into an art’, and to a wide extent this aim shaped the future of English literature – his descriptions of authoritarian regimes helped to form a new vocabulary that is fundamental to understanding totalitarianism. While 1984 and Animal Farm are amongst the most popular classic novels in the English language, this new series of Orwell’s essays seeks to bring a wider selection of his writing on politics and literature to a new readership. In Politics and the English Language, the second in the Orwell’s Essays series, Orwell takes aim at the language used in politics, which, he says, ‘is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind’. In an age where the language used in politics is constantly under the microscope, Orwell’s Politics and the English Language is just as relevant today, and gives the reader a vital understanding of the tactics at play. 'A writer who can – and must – be rediscovered with every age.' — Irish Times

Why I Write

Why I Write
Author: George Orwell
Publisher: Renard Press Ltd
Total Pages: 15
Release: 2021-01-01
Genre: Literary Collections
ISBN: 1913724263

George Orwell set out ‘to make political writing into an art’, and to a wide extent this aim shaped the future of English literature – his descriptions of authoritarian regimes helped to form a new vocabulary that is fundamental to understanding totalitarianism. While 1984 and Animal Farm are amongst the most popular classic novels in the English language, this new series of Orwell’s essays seeks to bring a wider selection of his writing on politics and literature to a new readership. In Why I Write, the first in the Orwell’s Essays series, Orwell describes his journey to becoming a writer, and his movement from writing poems to short stories to the essays, fiction and non-fiction we remember him for. He also discusses what he sees as the ‘four great motives for writing’ – ‘sheer egoism’, ‘aesthetic enthusiasm’, ‘historical impulse’ and ‘political purpose’ – and considers the importance of keeping these in balance. Why I Write is a unique opportunity to look into Orwell’s mind, and it grants the reader an entirely different vantage point from which to consider the rest of the great writer’s oeuvre. 'A writer who can – and must – be rediscovered with every age.' — Irish Times

Nineteen eighty-four

Nineteen eighty-four
Author: George Orwell
Publisher: DigiCat
Total Pages: 265
Release: 2022-11-22
Genre: Fiction
ISBN:

This is a dystopian social science fiction novel and morality tale. The novel is set in the year 1984, a fictional future in which most of the world has been destroyed by unending war, constant government monitoring, historical revisionism, and propaganda. The totalitarian superstate Oceania, ruled by the Party and known as Airstrip One, now includes Great Britain as a province. The Party uses the Thought Police to repress individuality and critical thought. Big Brother, the tyrannical ruler of Oceania, enjoys a strong personality cult that was created by the party's overzealous brainwashing methods. Winston Smith, the main character, is a hard-working and skilled member of the Ministry of Truth's Outer Party who secretly despises the Party and harbors rebellious fantasies.

George Orwell's Theory of Language

George Orwell's Theory of Language
Author: Andrey Reznikov
Publisher: iUniverse
Total Pages: 154
Release: 2024-08-28
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1663264619

Presently, there is not a single book that would offer a comprehensive description of George Orwell’s views on language. Andrey Reznikov’s work is the first attempt to fill this gap. Professor Reznikov puts together pieces of Orwell’s language puzzle, scattered throughout his essays, diaries, letters, radio talks, as well as works of fiction, and proposes the Newspeak model as Orwell’s way to outline his theory. The theory is then tested with actual examples from three languages – modern English, Nazi German, and Soviet Russian. Finally, the author describes bias-free language as an implementation of Orwell’s ideas. The new edition includes an afterword analyzing Newspeak of the 21st century.

The Ministry of Truth

The Ministry of Truth
Author: Dorian Lynskey
Publisher: Anchor
Total Pages: 386
Release: 2019-06-04
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0385544065

"Rich and compelling. . .Lynskey’s account of the reach of 1984 is revelatory.” --George Packer, The Atlantic An authoritative, wide-ranging, and incredibly timely history of 1984--its literary sources, its composition by Orwell, its deep and lasting effect on the Cold War, and its vast influence throughout world culture at every level, from high to pop. 1984 isn't just a novel; it's a key to understanding the modern world. George Orwell's final work is a treasure chest of ideas and memes--Big Brother, the Thought Police, Doublethink, Newspeak, 2+2=5--that gain potency with every year. Particularly in 2016, when the election of Donald Trump made it a bestseller ("Ministry of Alternative Facts," anyone?). Its influence has morphed endlessly into novels (The Handmaid's Tale), films (Brazil), television shows (V for Vendetta), rock albums (Diamond Dogs), commercials (Apple), even reality TV (Big Brother). The Ministry of Truth is the first book that fully examines the epochal and cultural event that is 1984 in all its aspects: its roots in the utopian and dystopian literature that preceded it; the personal experiences in wartime Great Britain that Orwell drew on as he struggled to finish his masterpiece in his dying days; and the political and cultural phenomena that the novel ignited at once upon publication and that far from subsiding, have only grown over the decades. It explains how fiction history informs fiction and how fiction explains history.

What Orwell Didn't Know

What Orwell Didn't Know
Author: Andras Szanto
Publisher: Public Affairs
Total Pages: 284
Release: 2007-11-06
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN:

To celebrate the 60th anniversary of George Orwells classic essay on propaganda, "Politics and the English Language," this collection contains essays from writers who explore what Orwell didnt--or couldnt--know, from the effects of television and computers to the merger of journalism and entertainment.

The Ethics of Exile

The Ethics of Exile
Author: Ashwini Vasanthakumar
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2021-11-04
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0192564153

Exiles have long been transformative actors in their homelands: they foment revolution, sustain dissent, and work to create renewed political institutions and identities back home. Ongoing waves of migration ensure that they will continue to play these vital roles. Rather than focus on what exiles mean for the countries they enter—a perspective that often treats them as passive victims—The Ethics of Exile recognises their political and moral agency, and explores their rich and vital relationship to the communities they have left. It offers a rare view of the other side of the migration story. Engaging with a series of case studies, this book identifies the responsibilities and rights exiles have and the important roles they play in homeland politics. It argues that exile politics performs two functions: it can correct defective political institutions back home, and it can counter asymmetries of voice and power abroad. In short, exiles can act both as a linchpin and a buffer between political communities in crisis and the international actors who seek to, variously, aid and exploit them. When we think about the duties we owe to those forced to leave their homes, we should consider how to enable rather than thwart these roles.

Beyond Nineteen Eighty-four

Beyond Nineteen Eighty-four
Author: William Lutz
Publisher:
Total Pages: 242
Release: 1989
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN:

This book probes the efforts at manipulation individuals face daily in this information age and the tactics of persuaders from many sectors of society using various forms of Orwellian "doublespeak." The book contains the following essays: (1) "Notes toward a Definition of Doublespeak" (William Lutz); (2) "Truisms Are True: Orwell's View of Language" (Walker Gibson); (3) "Mr. Orwell, Mr. Schlesinger, and the Language" (Hugh Rank); (4) "What Do We Know?" (Charles Weingartner); (5) "The Dangers of Singlespeak" (Edward M. White); (6) "The Fallacies of Doublespeak" (Dennis Rohatyn); (7) "Doublespeak and Ethics" (George R. Bramer); (8) "Post-Orwellian Refinements of Doublethink: Will the Real Big Brother Please Stand Up?" (Donald Lazere); (9) "Worldthink" (Richard Ohmann); (10)"'Bullets Hurt, Corpses Stink': George Orwell and the Language of Warfare" (Harry Brent); (11) "Political Language: The Art of Saying Nothing" (Dan F. Hahn); (12) "Fiddle-Faddle, Flapdoodle, and Balderdash: Some Thoughts about Jargon" (Frank J. D'Angelo); (13) "How to Read an Ad: Learning to Read between the Lies" (D. G. Kehl); (14) "Subliminal Chainings: Metonymical Doublespeak in Advertising" (Don L. F. Nilsen); (15) "Doublespeak and the Polemics of Technology" (Scott Buechler); (16) "Make Money, Not Sense: Keep Academia Green" (Julia Penelope); (17) "Sensationspeak in America" (Roy F. Fox); and (18) "The Pop Grammarians--Good Intentions, Silly Ideas, and Doublespeak" (Charles Suhor). Three appendixes are attached: "The George Orwell Awards,""The Doublespeak Award," and "The Quarterly Review of Doublespeak." (MS)