George Orwell

Early Life

• Eric Blair, Orwell’s actual name, was born in 1903 in Bengal.
• Educated in England at Eton, he moved to Burma in 1922 where he joined the Indian Imperial Police for five years .
• Eventually resigned because of his increasing disillusionment with British imperialism

Early Writings

• Using the pseudonym, George Orwell, he began writing articles for magazines. His first book, Down and Out in Paris and London (1933) described his experiences as a struggling writer.
• In 1936 Orwell was commissioned to produce a documentary account of unemployment in the north of England. The Road to Wigan Pier established Orwell as one of Britain's leading writers and marked a high point in literary journalism.

Politics

• Orwell, a committed socialist, went to Spain in December 1936 to report on the Spanish Civil War.
• He decided to join the struggle against the Nationalist Army and became a member of the Lenin Division in Barcelona, a unit under the control of the Workers Party of Marxist Unification.
• A sniper's bullet caused his left side to be paralyzed and he temporarily lost his voice.
• Had to escape Spain when Franco won

Later Writings

• Homage to Catalonia (1938) about his experiences in the Spanish civil war
• Animal Farm (1945) satire about Communism
• 1984, which was published in 1949, was a satire about the threat of political tyranny
• 1950: Died in Scotland