George Orwell

**George Orwell** (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950) was an English writer. His real name was **Eric Arthur Blair**. He used the pen name George Orwell for his novels.

He was born in India during the British Empire's rule of India. He is best known for two novels that he wrote in the late 1940s, _Animal Farm_ and _Nineteen Eighty-Four_. In those works, he said that totalitarianism, especially Stalinism, was very bad. He was a democratic socialist.

Orwell fought in the Spanish Civil War with the Marxist Workers’s Unification Party. They fought for Communism and against the dictatorship of fascist governments.

Orwell died of tuberculosis in London.

## Early life

Eric Arthur Blair was born on 25 June 1903, in India. His great-grandfather Charles Blair was a rich gentleman who had married Lady Mary Fane, and he owned slaves and plantations in Jamaica. His grandfather, Thomas Richard Arthur Blair, was a clergyman. His father, Richard Walmesley Blair, worked in the Indian Civil Service. His mother, Ida Mabel Blair, grew up in Burma. He had a younger sister Avril and an older sister Marjorie. When Eric was one year old, Ida took him to England.

Eric grew up with his mother and sisters. Except for a short visit, he did not see his father again until 1912. The family moved to Shiplake before World War I. There, Eric became friends with the Buddicom family, especially Gertrude Butticom. They read poetry and hoped to become famous writers. At this time, he also liked fishing and watching birds with his brother and sister.

When he was five, Eric was sent to a Catholic convent school where Marjorie went. His mother wanted him to go to public school, but his family was not rich enough to pay for it. Ida's brother, Charles Limouzin, was asked to help find the best school to help Eric prepare for better things. He suggested St Cyprian's School in Eastbourne, Sussex. Limouzin, who was a good golfer, came to know the school and its headmaster at the Royal Eastbourne Golf Club. The headmaster helped Blair win the scholarship to pay for his education. He also let Blair's parents pay only half the usual amount of money. However, Blair hated the school.

## World War One

When he was eleven, Blair wrote a poem about why the British should fight Germany in World War I. After he graduated from school, he went to Burma with the British army.

## Travels

After seeing a hanging, Blair quit the army, moved to France and sold everything he had except (some of) his clothes. He then worked as a porter, then as a teacher and then washing dishes for hotels and restaurants. He also met Soviet Communists and didn’t like them. He then moved back to London, travelled with the poor and wrote two stories.

## Name

After writing those stories, he wrote a book called Down and Out in Paris and London and used the name George Orwell.

## Before the Civil War

Orwell then became a teacher, wrote the novel Burmese Days, and wrote the novel A Clergyman’s daughter. He also quit being a teacher and married Eileen O’Shaughnessy. Orwell then wrote the novel Keep the Apsidistra Flying which criticized capitalism.

## Spanish Civil War

Orwell went to Spain to fight against Franco. Then Stalin said that the Trotskyists were trying to help Franco so the Spanish Secret police started trying to capture or kill Orwell and the others. Orwell ran away to escape and hated Stalin because of what happened.

## Wigan Pier

Orwell then wrote The Road to Wigan Pier and said that people should support Socialism.

## Homage to Catalonia

Orwell then wrote a book called Homage to Catalonia about the Spanish Civil War. In it, he said Stalin was really bad. His publisher Victor Gollancz said that he wouldn’t publish it, so Orwell said Gollancz was “part of the Communism racket” and found another publisher.

## World War Two

Orwell tried to join the British army again when World War II started and ended up working for the BBC. He quit after they asked him to say Stalin wasn’t that bad and he wrote Animal Farm. Four different publishers said they wouldn’t publish it. Then the war ended and Orwell published it. He also wrote an essay on the Cold War.

## 1984

Orwell then wrote 1984 and said it was about Communism in English speaking countries.

## Death

Orwell died of tuberculosis in 1950

### Novels

- _Burmese Days_ (1934)
- _A Clergyman's Daughter_ (1935)
- _Keep the Aspidistra Flying_ (1936)
- _Coming Up for Air_ (1939)
- _Animal Farm_ (1945)
- _Nineteen Eighty-Four_ (8 June 1949')

### Essays

- _Notes on Nationalism_ (1945)
- _A Nice Cup of Tea_ (1946)

### Books based on his life

- _Down and Out in Paris and London_ (1933)
- _The Road to Wigan Pier_ (1937)
- _Homage to Catalonia_ (1938)

### Poems

- "Romance"
- "A Little Poem"
- "Awake! Young Men of England"
- "Kitchener"
- "Our Minds are Married, But we are Too Young"
- "The Pagan"
- "The Lesser Evil"
- "Poem From Burma"

### References

- Anderson, Paul (ed). _Orwell in Tribune: 'As I Please' and Other Writings_. Methuen/Politico's 2006.
- Bounds, Philip. _Orwell and Marxism: The Political and Cultural Thinking of George Orwell_. I.B. Tauris. 2009.
- Bowker, Gordon. _George Orwell_. Little Brown. 2003.
- Caute, David. _Dr. Orwell and Mr. Blair_, Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
- Crick, Bernard. _George Orwell: A Life_. Penguin. 1982.
- Flynn, Nigel. _George Orwell_. The Rourke Corporation, Inc. 1990.
- Hitchens, Christopher. _Why Orwell Matters_. Basic Books. 2003.
- Hollis, Christopher. _A Study of George Orwell: The Man and His Works_. Chicago: Henry Regnery Co. 1956.
- Larkin, Emma. _Secret Histories: Finding George Orwell in a Burmese Teashop_. Penguin. 2005.
- Lee, Robert A, _Orwell's Fiction_. University of Notre Dame Press, 1969. LC 74-75151
- Leif, Ruth Ann, _Homage to Oceania. The Prophetic Vision of George Orwell_. Ohio State U.P. [1969]
- Meyers, Jeffery. _Orwell: Wintry Conscience of a Generation_. W.W.Norton. 2000.
- Newsinger, John. _Orwell's Politics_. Macmillan. 1999.
- Rodden, John (ed.) _The Cambridge Companion to George Orwell_. Cambridge. 2007.
- Shelden, Michael. _Orwell: The Authorized Biography_. HarperCollins. 1991.
- Smith, D. & Mosher, M. _Orwell for Beginners_. 1984. London: Writers and Readers Publishing Cooperative.
- Taylor, D. J. _Orwell: The Life_. Henry Holt and Company. 2003.
- West, W. J. _The Larger Evils_. Edinburgh: Canongate Press. 1992.  (Nineteen Eighty-Four – The truth behind the satire.)
- West, W. J. (ed.) _George Orwell: The Lost Writings_. New York: Arbor House. 1984.
- Williams, Raymond, _Orwell_, Fontana/Collins, 1971
- Woodcock, George. _The Crystal Spirit_. Little Brown. 1966.
- Orwell's meeting with dos Passos in 1937 Barcelona referenced in Stephen Koch, “The Breaking Point: Hemingway, dos Passos, and the Murder of Jose Robles”