Political language is designed to make murderers appear respectable.

Literature can also be a refuge, especially in turbulent times. We saw this with the recovery of The plague ofAlbert Camus during the pandemic or a handful of dystopian novels during Donald Trump's first term. Once the orange plutocrat has returned to the White House, it is not surprising that, with good judgment, Edicions de 1984 – created that same year and named in homage to the eponymous novel by the English author – has wanted to expand its catalog of George Orwell (Motihari, 1903 - London, 1950) –where we already found Days in Burma (2011)— with a selection of pieces written between 1931 and 1948. The personal and, therefore, debatable selection—chosen, translated and contextualized by Pau Dito Tubau—brings together texts of diverse length, origin and interest, in which literature—whether that of third parties through reviews—is the .

For Orwell, literature is inseparable from one's own life experience and the political situation of the moment: "A novelist who avoids the most important public events of his time is, by definition, someone who wastes time or is short on time." most important trilogy—made up of Tribute to Catalonia (1938; La Magrana, 2023; translation by Jordi Ainaud), The Animal Farm (1945; La Magrana, 2023; translation by Albert Nolla) and 1984 (1949; La Magrana, 2023; translation by Albert Nolla)—obviously absent from this volume, as when it comes to literary criticism and writing.

The scars of the colonial experience in India and Burma, of the class clash experienced in the exclusive Eton and in the metropolis, of the subalternity suffered as a European vagabond, and of his time in the Spanish Civil War condition and distinguish Orwell's outlook. "Every line of serious writing I have written since 1936 has been directed directly or indirectly against totalitarianism and in favor of democratic socialism as I understand it." And this militancy runs parallel to a similar technical requirement.

Our 'our' Orwell

Why I write It offers us new angles on Orwell, on tastes and manias, on references and genealogies, on the successes and failures of one's own judgments. However, it also includes gems that may resonate with connoisseurs of the great Orwellian works, such as when, referring to political language, he states that "it is designed to make lies sound truthful and murderers seem respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to mere wind."

It is in these intuitions about the future that the reader takes up the pencil to underline the validity of certain diagnoses –"The political fascist always cries out when he fights for justice: Yeats, the poet, sees at first glance that fascism means injustice and proclaims it precisely because it is his point of view" politically, the only remedy left to you for the ills of society is education"—. It is not strange that, despite some shortcomings and rigidities, Orwell remains a useful and relevant author to the point that, like the soldier protagonist of the text Memories of the Spanish WarWe did not hesitate to celebrate by exclaiming: "This is the best cape we have!"