READERS often discover George Orwell through Animal Farm. Many encounter it at secondary school. It is only 120 pages long and is written in a clear plain style. Like Gulliver’s Travels it is a political satire, but one which can also be enjoyed on a simpler level just for its story.

Orwell had been trying to make his living as a writer for 15 years before Animal Farm brought him fame and financial security. He saw himself primarily as a novelist but in truth he was not a great writer of fiction. Of the novels he wrote in the 1930s, only Coming Up For Air might still be in print were it not for the strong interest in everything Orwell wrote.

He also wrote reviews and essays but it was not until Road to Wigan Pier (1937) that Orwell really hit his stride as a writer. It is a book of two halves: the first of which is reportage, in which Orwell investigates working class life in the north of England, and the suffering caused by mass unemployment and poverty; the second is political, as he tries to formulate his response to how life could be made better and fairer.

By the late 1930s Orwell had developed a lively, lucid style of writing, which at its best feels as if he is talking just to you, the reader. He keeps his language clear, wanting to express thoughts and not to conceal or prevent them. He likes to catch you with an arresting opening: ‘In Moulmein, in Lower Burma, I was hated by large numbers of people – the only time in my life that I have been important enough for this to happen to me.’ (Shooting an Elephant - 1936); ‘As I write, highly civilised human beings are flying overhead, trying to kill me.’(The Lion and the Unicorn – December 1940); ‘

Orwell’s literary strength is as a writer of non-fiction. Road to Wigan Pier, Down and Out in Paris and London and Homage to Catalonia (all published in the 1930s) stand the test of time and are well worth reading and re-reading.

Some of his very best writing is in his journalism and I recommend these essays: A Hanging; Boys’ Weeklies; My Country Right or Left; The Art of Donald McGill; and Books v. Cigarettes.

But perhaps there is no better introduction to Orwell’s non-fiction, and to his personality as a writer, than the As I Please column he wrote for the Tribune newspaper 1943-45. In these short pieces Orwell discusses a wide range of topics, and gives us his views on them. And these are always interesting to read.

Most of the essays are accessible on the internet. And if you type in ‘Orwell As I Please’ these columns are available as a pdf.

You may be surprised that I don’t mention his final great work Nineteen Eighty-Four - I intend to discuss this book in a few weeks’ time.

Lance Christopher

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