The prevention of literature

In ‘The Prevention of Literature’, the third in the ‘Orwell’s Essays’ series, Orwell considers the freedom of thought and expression. He discusses the effect of the ownership of the press on the accuracy of reports of events, and takes aim at political language, which ‘consists almost entirely of prefabricated phrases bolted together’. ‘The Prevention of Literature’ is a stirring cry for freedom from censorship, which Orwell says must start with the writer themselves: ‘To write in plain vigorous language one has to think fearlessly’.