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Orwell’s “Politics and the English Language” in the Age of Pseudocracy

Hans Ostrom author William Haltom author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd

Published:30th Jun '20

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Orwell’s “Politics and the English Language” in the Age of Pseudocracy cover

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."

"Ostrom and Haltom properly chide all of us who have been uncritically assigning Orwell’s essay to our students for years and dazzle the reader with their deep analysis of the hidden ironies at play, all while reconstructing Orwell’s warnings for a new century in which that concern is even more serious. An absolute must-read." --Seán Patrick Eudaily, University of Montana Western, USA

ISBN: 9780367607173

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 145g

114 pages