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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
Almost sixty years ago, George Orwell described the decay of language and why this threatened democratic society. But compared to what we now endure, the public language of Orwell's day brimmed with life and truth. Today's corporations, government departments, news media, and, perhaps most dangerously, politicians – speak to each other and to us in cliched, impenetrable, lifeless sludge.
Don Watson can bear it no longer. In Death Sentence, part diatribe, part cool reflection on the state of Australia's public language, he takes a blowtorch to the words – and their users – who kill joy, imagination and clarity. Scathing, funny and brilliant, Death Sentence is a small book of profound weight – and timeliness.
Source: Penguin Random House Australia.
(https://penguin.com.au/books/death-sentence-9781740512787)
Reading Australia
This work has Reading Australia teaching resources.
Unit Suitable For
AC: Year 10 (NSW Stage 5)
Themes
Australia, Australian identity, Language, media, Power, public, rhetoric, truth
General Capabilities
Critical and creative thinking, Ethical understanding, Information and communication technology, Literacy, Personal and social
Notes
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Don't you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? - George Orwell, 1984
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Epigraph: Language most shows a man: speak that I may see thee. - Ben Jonson
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Epigraph: A great ox stands on my tongue. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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[Essay] : Death Sentence
2013
single work
essay
— Appears in: Reading Australia 2013-;'Has our public language really deteriorated to the point where we no longer understand what is being said? If so, when and how did this happen, and how worried should we be? In a world of spin and management speak, is there really any way the average citizen can restore the meaningfulness of public discourse?' (Introduction)
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The Need to Belong : Non-Fiction Publishing in Australia, 2003-2004
2004
single work
review
— Appears in: Westerly , November vol. 49 no. 2004; (p. 96-114)
— Review of Island and Otherland : Christopher Koch and His Books 2003 single work criticism ; The Diaries of Donald Friend. Volume 2 2003 selected work diary ; The Diaries of Miles Franklin 2004 selected work diary ; Can I Call You Colin? : The Authorised Biography of Colin Thiele 2004 single work biography ; The Sparrow Garden Marianna Lacek (translator), 2004 single work autobiography ; Minerva's Owl Excerpts from Exile 2003 single work biography ; Inside Out : An Autobiography 2004 single work autobiography ; Bittersweet Journey 2003 single work autobiography ; Bud : A Life 2004 single work autobiography ; Dhuuluu-Yala : To Talk Straight : Publishing Indigenous Literature 2003 multi chapter work criticism ; Two Sisters : Ngarta and Jukuna Eirlys Richards (translator), 2004 selected work autobiography biography ; Very Big Journey : My Life as I Remember It 2004 single work autobiography ; Shadow Lines 2003 single work biography ; Mongrel Signatures : Reflections on the Work of Mudrooroo 2003 anthology criticism ; The Station at Austin Downs : One Family's Adventure on the Land 2004 single work autobiography ; Down to the Sea : A True Saga of an Australian Fishing Dynasty 2004 single work biography ; Tanami : On Foot Across Australia's Desert Heart 2003 single work autobiography ; Great Australian Droving Stories 2003 selected work short story ; Great Australian Drinking Stories 2003 anthology short story prose ; James Stirling : Admiral and Founding Governor of Western Australia 2003 single work biography ; About Face : Asian Accounts of Australia 2003 single work criticism ; Chinese Women and the Global Village : An Australian Site 2003 single work prose ; Semar's Cave : An Indonesian Journal 2004 single work prose ; Life and Death in the Age of Sail : The Passage to Australia 2003 single work non-fiction ; The Girl from Botany Bay : The True Story of Mary Broad and Her Extraordinary Escape 2004 single work biography ; Legacies of White Australia : Race, Culture and Nation 2003 anthology essay ; The Best Australian Essays 2003 2003 anthology essay autobiography interview prose review obituary ; Death Sentence : The Decay of Public Language 2003 single work prose ; Great Australian Fishing Stories 2003 selected work short story -
A Man of His Words
2004
single work
review
— Appears in: Limelight , January 2004; (p. 40-41)
— Review of Death Sentence : The Decay of Public Language 2003 single work prose -
The Courier-Mail Book of the Year
2004
single work
column
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 11 September 2004; (p. 10) -
Death Sentence: The Decay of Public Language
2004
single work
review
— Appears in: Newswrite : The NSW Writers' Centre Magazine , June no. [137] 2004; (p. 7, 30)
— Review of Death Sentence : The Decay of Public Language 2003 single work prose
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Words Fail Us
2003
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 1-2 November 2003; (p. 32)
— Review of Death Sentence : The Decay of Public Language 2003 single work prose -
Weeding Out Weasel Words
2003
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 8 November 2003; (p. 4)
— Review of Death Sentence : The Decay of Public Language 2003 single work prose -
Imperilled Public Language
2003
single work
review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 15 November 2003; (p. 3a)
— Review of Death Sentence : The Decay of Public Language 2003 single work prose -
Broken English
2003
single work
review
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 18 November vol. 121 no. 6399 2003; (p. 69)
— Review of Death Sentence : The Decay of Public Language 2003 single work prose -
Word Warrior
2003
single work
review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 8 November 2003; (p. 7)
— Review of Death Sentence : The Decay of Public Language 2003 single work prose -
Fighting the Death Sentence
2003
single work
column
— Appears in: The Age , 1 November 2003; (p. 3) -
The Good (English) Fight
2004
single work
criticism
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 29 May 2004; (p. 8a) Symposium : Newsletter of the Australian Academy of the Humanities , October no. 28 2004; (p. 8-9) Professor Bennett urges Australians to develop their English language skills to the highest possible level. He refers to Don Watson's recent book Death Sentence: The Decay of Public Language for examples of the crisis in spoken and written English both in Australia and internationally. -
The Courier-Mail Book of the Year
2004
single work
column
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 11 September 2004; (p. 10) -
[Essay] : Death Sentence
2013
single work
essay
— Appears in: Reading Australia 2013-;'Has our public language really deteriorated to the point where we no longer understand what is being said? If so, when and how did this happen, and how worried should we be? In a world of spin and management speak, is there really any way the average citizen can restore the meaningfulness of public discourse?' (Introduction)
Awards
- 2004 shortlisted The Courier-Mail Book of the Year Award
- 2004 shortlisted Queensland Premier's Literary Awards — Best Literary or Media Work Advancing Public Debate
- 2004 shortlisted New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards — Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction
- 2003 joint winner Australian Booksellers Association Awards — BookPeople Book of the Year Joint winner with Li Cunxin's Mao's Last Dancer.