{ George Orwell The life and times of a political writer

George Orwell ( )

 Born Eric Blair to aristocratic parents in India  Sent to school in the UK; failed out of college  Joined the Indian Imperial Police, sent to Burma (modern Myanmar)  Felt the British were oppressing the Burmese, limiting economic development  Returned to the UK in 1927, began writing and teaching Orwell: the early years

 While conducting research for The Road to Wigan Pier, exposed to depressed working class of UK  Experience made Orwell a democratic socialist  1936: Spanish Civil War begins  Orwell leaves for Spain to support socialist efforts and fight against Franco  Allied himself with the Workers Party of Marxist Unification Orwell: the socialist

 System of social organization which places resources in the control of the community as a whole  Socialism is mainly economic while communism is both economic and political  Should benefit whole community  Active in Europe post-WW II Socialism: Just the facts

 Orwell saw action in numerous places, including street fights in Barcelona  May, 1937, Orwell shot in throat by sniper  Voice is damaged and declared medically unfit for service Orwell in action

 Returns from Spain in 1938, just as UK is entering WW II  Takes job a BBC; does programming for India to combat Nazi propaganda  Becomes a member of the Home Guard, which he sees as the “people’s militia”  Leaves after two years, in part to finish Animal Farm  Published in UK August, 1945  Nineteen Eighty-Four published in 1949 Orwell: the political writer

 Novel imagines the future modern world as Western recovers from WW II  Set in Airstrip One, Oceania, new name for London, UK  Novel depicts socialism distorted into corrupt dictatorship (common theme for Orwell)  Novella Animal Farm (1945) takes on the corruption of communist Russia under Stalin 1984: The novel

The geography of 1984

Social structure of Oceania