Wednesday, May 19, 2010

What Makes George Orwell Different From Other Authors

As I bury my head in any works by George Orwell, I always feel that I am reading something which I have never read before and which so few or rather no authors have already discussed. It is merely the fact that this author was remarkably realistic about different aspects of his everyday life, including his writing style, his daily obstacles, his critical attiutudes towards the society and so on and so forth.

Frankly speaking, I can not help reading his essays one after another as I have found that they help me a lot become familiar with some harsh realities of life. This is in fact what some other authors have overlooked or ignored, especially when it comes to talking frankly and admittedly about their writing styles and the stages they went through to ultimately become distinguished authors. It is here where I have come to the conclusion that George Orwell, for me, is somewhat disimilar from the rest.

To begin with, as I have noticed in most of his articles touching on his writing style development, I believe that he is one of the rarest authors who addressed his reading public very objectively. For instance, in "Why I Write" , he talked about his childish attempts at writing and his parents' and teachers' reactions to them. He always looked down on his efforts and thought that writing creatively and originally was a most difficult and stultifying job at the time.

I suppose that the authors whose works I have read never dared discuss this crucial and formative part of their writing career, especially that this period is the pinnacle of every writer's job. The part of the essay that actually attracted my attention was the one detailing the motives lying behind every single writer 's ambition to become a writer. It is principally due to this that I have admired his writings more and more. Personally, I share him the same motives and I believe that it is not all the time easy for any writer to admit these motives though no one can escape the latter.

George Orwell believes that before anyone sets out to write a piece, he or she must seek to be talked about, to be honoured posthumously, and to take revenge on those who used to look down on us during our troubled childhood. No one of us, I strongly believe, can deny them for one reason or another; I must admit that the latter motive has been the one affecting me most. I have always wondered what authors have already discussed this part of their development and which one of them is willing to admit them to the reader.

Here lies the secret behind considering George Orwell as totally different from distinguished authors in general and from novice ones in particular. Moreover, scientists, politicians, and other people holding notable positons are without exception in this case. Though not interested enough in money, appearances and trivial worldly concerns, authors are always deemed selfish, vain and more importantly self-centred. Actually, I could not agree more when Orwell described them in this manner.

With regards to " Such, Such were the Joys", another essay in which this author recounts plainly and without frills his painful experiences as a neglected, funny student, has appealed to me for some days. I have always wanted to write something similar to it, but haven't yet made up my mind; this amazing essay, some might argue, has been a very genuine account of Orwell's schooldays. Reading it from top to bottom makes me wonder how the author dared to divulge some secretive and very personal information about himself and his personality at large.

One of these secrets which struck me in the extreme was the fact that in the dormitory he lived in, he never woke up without having wet his bed. Rarely do we find authors relating such ignominious situations about themselves. I am not of course encouraging that they should be revealed. Quite the contrary, I am simply claiming that this is exactly what made me fall passionately in love with all of Orwell's works ranging from novels to essays." No one can look back on his schooldays and say with truth that they were altogether unhappy, " said Orwell in the aforementioned essay.

Here, I would like to make reference to the authors who in their biographies make the positives sides outweigh the negative ones. However, if each one of us looks back on his past days, we will surely find that we experienced sadness more than happiness and failures more than successes.


Apart from other works by the same author, such as 1984, Animal farm, etc. I would like to add that having authors who recount their experiences as they exactly happened will not necessarily distort their image in front of the reading public. On the contrary, the latter would certainly appreciate these harsh facts for one simple reason. It is that all of us have at one point in our lives gone through the same moments and when somebody mentions these moments to us, we feel precariously placated. And this is the attribute which has made me believe that George Orwell is totally different from other authors.

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