Orwell once said that he wanted to “make political writing into an art.” Discuss this quotation in light of the role of literature in 1984.

Julia tells Winston that the books she and others write in the Ministry of Truth’s Fiction Department are “ghastly rubbish,” “boring,” and produced to amuse the proles. The books are written by novel-writing machines, and her job is to service the machines. In the novel deep and meaningful ideas can never be expressed in literature because totalitarianism is the enemy of great literature and art. The role of literature in the novel is in direct contrast to Orwell’s own approach to literature. His goal is to criticize totalitarianism, and his political views are elevated to art through his compelling ideas and precise prose.