Reasons for Writing

How Orwell Saw It

“Putting aside the need to earn a living,” George Orwell states, “I think there are four great motives for writing, at any rate for writing prose.” This claim is made in Orwell’s 1946 essay, “Why I Write.” What are those reasons?

Orwell’s first reason is commentary on the human condition. Why do writers write? “Sheer egoism.” Writers write for the I who writes.

Orwell explains that this egoism is and expression of the “[d]esire to seem clever, to be talked about, to be remembered after death, to get your own back on grown-ups who snubbed you in childhood, etc., etc. It is humbug to pretend that this is not a motive, and a strong one.”

This isn’t unique to writers. Orwell adds, “Writers share this characteristic with scientists, artists, politicians, lawyers, soldiers, successful businessmen—in short, with the whole top crust of humanity.”

But why stop there?

He’s right that this motivation drives elites. But he’s wrong to exclude other classes. We all want to make our mark. While Orwell thinks “The great mass of human beings are not acutely selfish,” I wonder how, empirically, he came to this conclusion.

As for a second reason, Orwell states that writers write from “aesthetic enthusiasm.” What is that? He expands: “Perception of beauty in the external world, or, on the other hand, in words and their right arrangement. Pleasure in the impact of one sound on another, in the firmness of good prose or the rhythm of a good story. Desire to share an experience which one feels is valuable and ought not to be missed.”

Orwell observes that writers “have pet words and phrases which appeal to him for non-utilitarian reasons,” certain words and combinations of words that evoke sounds and feelings the writer enjoys introducing, again and again, into the world, hoping that the reader will come to love them, too. Orwell adds that some writers “feel strong about typography, width of margins;” the aesthetic sensibility can extend to how the words appear on the page. I agree. I’m partial to some fonts, and spacing that is pleasing to the eye.

Orwell’s third reason is “historical impulse.” Hs comment consist of one sentence. In this motivation, writers “[d]esire to see things as they are, to find out true facts and store them up for the use of prosperity.”

(“True facts!”)

His fourth and final reason: “political purpose—using the word ‘political’ in the widest possible sense.” What does he mean? “Desire to push the world in a certain direction, to alter other people’s idea of the kind of society that they should strive after…no book is free from political bias. The opinion that art should have nothing to do with politics is itself a political attitude.”

I began writing because of the first reason, of which I continue to repent. I still write, primarily, for the second reason, aware of the third, and with a hope that I might accomplish the fourth. I’m not neutral. I have a position on reality, the existence of God, the truth of Christianity, and what it means to live a moral and ethical life. I write to share and maybe to amuse, but also to persuade, compel, clarify, motivate, and inspire others to seek the good, true and beautiful.

In another essay, Orwell wrote, “The first thing that we ask of a writer is that he shan’t tell lies.”

We ask writers to tell us the truth.

Book Notes

I finished Terry Eagleton’s Literary Theory: An Introduction and Hilary Mante’s historical novel centered on Thomas Cromwell, Wolf Hall. I also finished a collection of George Orwell’s writings, Orwell on Truth, and have begun Czeslaw Milosz’s The Captive Mind.

Sights and Sounds

Molly and I finished watching the seventh season of Bosch. Solid.

I have continued to enjoy the Disney+ series Loki. I’m through episode five.

Tonight, I’ll finish re-watching Guy Ritchie’s Snatch.

Last Words

New stuff on the blog: Samuel Colt’s marketing smarts, the kingdom of God and work, understandings of campus culture, and Oswald Chambers’ definition of prayer.

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Best,

BAS

P. S. - At a fuel station in Terlingua.