Getting towards the back end of my working life (with emphasis on ‘working’ rather than ‘life’), I can reflect on quite a few job interviews. Some were successful, and quite a few more weren’t. Through all of those interviews, when asked why I wanted the job for which I was applying, I have never (yet) answered, “because I need money, and you pay rather well”. The thought of giving this honest and entirely reasonable answer has of course occurred to me. Writers when asked a somewhat similar question – why do you write? – are often brutally blunt: “I need the money”, they say, although it may be observed that, for most writers, there are many potentially more lucrative income streams. Quite a lot of writers – the majority, perhaps – are quite earnest, and go for some variety of the “I must write or I shall wither and die a terrible death” kind. My own favourite response to the why do you write question is Sue Grafton’s, who said, “I write because in 1962 I put in my application for a job working in the children’s department at Sears, and they never called me back”. This week’s page is an addition to the many pages we have already created to support the study of George Orwell’s essays. The essay being considered is, of course, ‘Why I Write’ (1946). Orwell’s motivation for writing is less pithy and less amusing than Grafton’s. I believe Christopher Hitchens, at least, made the observation that Orwell’s writing is not big on laughs. Nevertheless, ‘Why I Write’ is an important essay, contextualising Orwell’s development as a writer. Subscribers can find the page here.

David (and Tim)