I’ve just finished reading Why I Write by George Orwell. I’ve always admired his writing - like many people - so it was interesting to see what he had to say about it himself.

George Orwell could perhaps be described as one of the foremost modern writers in the English-speaking world, although whether that’s because of the themes he develops or the language he evokes is difficult to say. Many would argue that it was a combination of the two, in which case this slim volume in the Penguin Great Ideas series is an essential piece of work. In three of its four sections, Orwell describes what it is that inspires him to write, his take on the changing political landscape of Britain during the Second World War, and the malaise setting in among many non-professional writers at that time.

The pieces were written towards the end of Orwell’s life, in the years 1931 to 1946. It is conceivable, then, that Why I Write, the essay that opens the collection, was penned at a time when he was working on ideas for perhaps his most important and influential novel of all, 1984. ‘I have not written a novel for seven years, but I hope to write another fairly soon,’ he writes, before continuing without irony that, ‘it is bound to be a failure, every book is a failure, but I know with some clarity what kind of book I want to write.’

Having read Why I Write, 1984 should perhaps be seen as the logical culmination of the work that went before it. ‘Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for social democracy,’ he explains. ‘It seems to me nonsense, in a period like our own, to think that one can avoid writing about such subjects… What I have most wanted to do throughout the last ten years is to make political writing into an art.’

The Lion and the Unicorn: Socialism and the English Genius, the volume’s second essay is perhaps the most blatant embodiment of this literary campaign in favour of democratic socialism. It reads as an impassioned plea for its establishment in the British Isles, both because the war provides the ideal distraction during which it can be introduced (it was written in 1940) and because Orwell seems to have believed that it could be an effective weapon against Nazi aggression. To claim that it is not a heavy read, particularly beyond the half-way point, would be not entirely accurate, and indeed A Hanging, which immediately follows, almost feels like a piece of light relief by comparison.

Orwell may have had a short life (he died of tuberculosis aged 46 after three years spent in and out of hospital), but the importance of his work cannot be understated. This slim book, then, is an important guide to the inspiration behind what is perhaps among of the most important political works of all time.

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