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http://www.orwell.ru/library/essays/politics/english/e_polit http://www.orwell.ru/library/essays/politics/english/e_polit

• akkartik 19y ago
  He doesn't break any of the rules too badly, I don't think. He isn't using large words, or convoluted sentences. He's just saying things perhaps you don't find interesting.
• ralph 19y ago
  That's excellent, thanks very much. I'm also reminded of Je n'ai fait celle-ci plus longue que parce que je n'ai pas eu le loisir de la faire plus courte. -- Blaise Pascal, Lettres provinciales, letter 16, 1657. (I am sorry for the length of my letter, but I had not the time to write a short one.) Paul, I agree it needs to attract, entertain, and hold the reader but feel the verbosity is laziness in editing rather than style.
  • staunch 19y ago
    I agree it's laziness but I think it's a win for us. If he had to spend weeks instead of hours writing these posts he might not publish anything at all. Those of us willing to wade through his stuff get lots of value for a reasonable cost. My understanding is that PG spends weeks writing and editing his longer essays. The result is obviously much more solid and digestible, but I'd definitely trade some of that solidity for more quantity. That might be key the difference between a blogger and an essayist.
• ralph 19y ago
  A scrupulous writer, in every sentence that he writes, will ask himself at least four questions, thus: What am I trying to say? What words will express it? What image or idiom will make it clearer? Is this image fresh enough to have an effect? And he will probably ask himself two more: Could I put it more shortly? Have I said anything that is avoidably ugly?