 | Orwell’s “Politics and the English Language” in the Age of Pseudocracy Subjects: Communication Studies; Humanities; Language & Literature; Politics & International Relations; Political Communication; Rhetoric; Writing & Composition; Media & Film Studies; Language & Linguistics; Politics & the Media; Journalism & Professional Media; Discourse Analysis; Political Communication; Orwell's "Politics and the English Language" in the Age of Pseudocracy visits the essay as if for the first time, clearing away lore about the essay and responding to the prose itself. It shows how many of Orwell's rules and admonitions are far less useful than they are famed to be, but it also shows how some of them can be refurbished for our age, and how his major claim--that politics corrupts language, which then corrupts political discourse further, and so on indefinitely--can best be re-deployed today. "Politics and the English Language" has encouraged generations of writers and readers and teachers and students to take great care, to be skeptical and clear-sighted. The essay itself requires a fresh, clear, skeptical analysis so that it can, with reapplication, reclaim its status as a touchstone in our era of the rule of falsehood: the age of "pseudocracy." Hans Ostrom is Professor of African American Studies at the University of Puget Sound, USA. His previous publications include A Langston Hughes Encyclopedia, Honoring Juanita: a Novel, and Metro: Journeys in Creative Writing, written with Wendy Bishop and Katharine Haake. He has been a Fulbright Senior Lecturer at Uppsala University in Sweden. William Haltom, Professor of Politics and Government at the University of Puget Sound, USA, teaches courses in politics and law. He is co-author of Distorting the Law (Chicago 2004) and "The Laws of God, the Laws of Man: Power, Authority, and Influence in 'Cool Hand Luke,' " Legal Studies Forum (1998). |
