George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair Born June 25, 1903 Father was an employee of India’s government- Opium Department Moved to Oxfordshire, England 1904 Eric Blair -- George Orwell as student, 1921. (Orwell Archive) Knew wanted to be a writer from age 5 Won scholarships to Wellington & Eaton- College Prep Schools Neglected to win a University Scholarship

Employment 1923 Burma Provincial Police Training School, Mandalay (Eric Blair standing third from the left) 5 years Left – Dreams of becoming a writer and could not support a political system of imperialism

Employment 1927- Moved to Paris to write Ran out of money & became a dishwasher 1929- Became an official Tramp & roamed the English countryside Teaching at the Hawthorns, 1933. (Geoffrey Stevens) Time to write & publish books

Employment Wrote Down and Out in Paris & Burmese Days 1941- Producer & Broadcaster for BBC India

Committed Socialist Went to Spain to report on Spanish Civil War Soon joined the struggle against the Nationalist Army Member of the Lenin Division in Barcelona March 1937 On the Aragon front at Huesca: Orwell is the tall figure standing in the centre, Eileen Blair is crouching in front of him

POUM Joined the Workers’ Party of Marxist Unification Worked his way up to 2nd Lieutenant An outlaw Sniper Bullet to the neck Returned to England

George Orwell Pseudonym '...I would prefer the book to be published pseudonymously. I have no reputation that is lost by doing this and if the book has any kind of success I can always use this pseudonym again.' In effect, it meant that Eric Blair would somehow have to shed his old identity and take on a new. This is exactly what he tried to do: he tried to change himself from Eric Blair, old Etonian and English colonial policemen, into George Orwell, classless anti-authoritarian. Orwell= River in Suffolk, England George= British, Christian Name

Utopia Utopia ideal civilization, which may range from a city to a world, regarded to be attainable in the future by some. Humans all work to create a better, or perhaps perfect society. “Utopian" in a negative meaning is used to discredit ideas as too advanced, too optimistic or unrealistic and impossible to realize.

Anti-Utopian Writer Cautionary tales about what can happen if tyranny and totalarianism is left to rule. Warns against a future lead by selfishness. Orwell envisions a world corrupted by power and devastated by nuclear war and poverty. The writer at work. Orwell typing in his flat in Islington, winter 1945. (Vernon Richards) ://www.orwell.ru/bio/gallery/english/eg_003 www.k-1.com/Orwell/