Orwell is one of my personal heroes, 1984 was a transformative book to me, and I strongly recommend Homage to Catalonia as well.
That said, I’m not sure making theories of art is worth it. Even when great artists do it (Tolkien had a theory of art, and Oscar Wilde, and Flannery O’Connor, and almost every artist if you look close enough), it always seems to be the kind of theory which suits that artist and nobody else. Would advice like “good prose is like a windowpane” or “efface your own personality” improve the writing of, say, Hunter S. Thompson? Heck no, his writing is the opposite of that and charming for it! Maybe the only possible advice to an artist is to follow their talent, and advising anything more specific is as likely to hinder as help.
Orwell is one of my personal heroes, 1984 was a transformative book to me, and I strongly recommend Homage to Catalonia as well.
That said, I’m not sure making theories of art is worth it. Even when great artists do it (Tolkien had a theory of art, and Oscar Wilde, and Flannery O’Connor, and almost every artist if you look close enough), it always seems to be the kind of theory which suits that artist and nobody else. Would advice like “good prose is like a windowpane” or “efface your own personality” improve the writing of, say, Hunter S. Thompson? Heck no, his writing is the opposite of that and charming for it! Maybe the only possible advice to an artist is to follow their talent, and advising anything more specific is as likely to hinder as help.
The theories are probably just rationalizations anyway.