George Orwell:
Born Eric Arthur Blair
Of British decent
Born: June 25, 1903
Died: January 21, 1950
Was born into a family of the “lower-upper middle class”
Eric did not see his father till 1912.
He went to Burma to join the Indian Imperial Police.
He grew to love the Burmese and resent the oppression of imperialism and decided to become a writer instead.
Influenced most by Somerset Maugham, admired immensely for his power of telling a story straightforwardly and without frills.
Has written 3 books, 6 novels, and 555 articles
Orwell used his fiction writing as well as his journalism to defend his political convictions.
During Orwells career, he was best known for his journalism, both in the British press and in books of reportage such as Homage to Catalonia (describing his experiences during the Spanish Civil War), Down and Out in Paris and London (describing a period of poverty in these cities), and The Road to Wigan Pier (which described the living conditions of poor miners in northern England).
According to Newsweek, Orwell "was the finest journalist of his day and the foremost architect of the English essay since Hazlitt."
After Orwell resigned, he moved to Paris to try his hand at short stories, writing freelance for various periodicals though he ended up destroying them because nobody would publish them.
A proponent for socialism, Blair now wanted to write for the ‘common man’ and purposefully lived as a tramp in London and the Home Counties and stayed with miners in the north.
Blair learned of the disparity between the classes and came to know a life of poverty and hardship amongst beggars and thieves.
His study of the under-classes in general would provide the theme for many of his works to follow.
He would go on to write, Keep The Aspidistra Flying, Animal Farm, along with Nineteen Eighty-Four.
He contributed numerous concepts, words, and phrases including; Newspeak, Doublethink, Thoughtcrime, and he who controls the present controls the past.
Authors life related to theme
Every line of serious work that Orwell has written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for democratic socialism.
Five Interesting Facts About The Publication:
1. The title of the book was originally called "Last Man In Europe"
2. The term Orwellian has evolved, in reference to an idea or action that is hostile to a free society.
3.By 1989, the book had been translated in to some 65 languages, the greatest number for any English-language novel at the time.
4. The speculation of the choice of the title perhaps is an illusion to one of Orwells poems "End of the Century".
5.1984 is on Spacious Planet's list of 21 most surprising banned books for being banned in Russia and very nearly banned in the UK and the US. http://www.online-literature.com/orwell/
Born Eric Arthur Blair
Of British decent
Born: June 25, 1903
Died: January 21, 1950
Authors life related to theme
Five Interesting Facts About The Publication:
1. The title of the book was originally called "Last Man In Europe"
2. The term Orwellian has evolved, in reference to an idea or action that is hostile to a free society.
3.By 1989, the book had been translated in to some 65 languages, the greatest number for any English-language novel at the time.
4. The speculation of the choice of the title perhaps is an illusion to one of Orwells poems "End of the Century".
5.1984 is on Spacious Planet's list of 21 most surprising banned books for being banned in Russia and very nearly banned in the UK and the US.
http://www.online-literature.com/orwell/