“Freedom of the press, if it means anything at all, means the freedom to criticise and oppose” 

Orwell’s ‘The Prevention of Literature’ is a work of non-fiction that is so typically Orwellian. In this instance he argues that freedom of press does not exist as the individual writer applies self-censorship to their writing in ages of political uncertainty. The poet is more free than the prose writer as poetry has more window for re-interpretation and multiple contributors, but prose is a literary form doomed to lose all individuality. This extended to an argument that with the rise of radio and television all forms of literature will become obsolete, and in totalitarian states classical literature rewritten to lose any individual value or style. In this instance Orwell was incorrect as thankfully the form of the novel has continued to existed alongside growth of other media, if not lost its significance just a little. This fear becomes relevant again today, but hopefully Orwell’s incorrect bleak visions of the future for literature were proven incorrect once and hence are able to be incorrect again. He will be twisting in his grave if he were to ever hear of the development of AI.