Claim: George Orwell is the author of Nineteen Eighty-Four.

Eric Arthur Blair -LRB- 25 June 1903 -- 21 January 1950 -RRB- , better known by his pen name George Orwell , was an English novelist , essayist , journalist , and critic . His work is marked by lucid prose , awareness of social injustice , opposition to totalitarianism , and outspoken support of democratic socialism .   Orwell wrote literary criticism , poetry , fiction , and polemical journalism . He is best known for the allegorical novella Animal Farm -LRB- 1945 -RRB- and the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four -LRB- 1949 -RRB- . His non-fiction works , including The Road to Wigan Pier -LRB- 1937 -RRB- , documenting his experience of working class life in the north of England , and Homage to Catalonia -LRB- 1938 -RRB- , an account of his experiences in the Spanish Civil War , are widely acclaimed , as are his essays on politics , literature , language , and culture . In 2008 , The Times ranked him second on a list of `` The 50 greatest British writers since 1945 '' .   Orwell 's work continues to influence popular and political culture , and the term Orwellian -- descriptive of totalitarian or authoritarian social practices -- has entered the language together with many of his neologisms , including cold war , Big Brother , Thought Police , Room 101 , memory hole , newspeak , doublethink , and thoughtcrime .