George Orwell (Biography)

George Orwell (Biography)

1. 1903-1950

   • Born Eric Arthur Blair, in Bengal, India
     • Son of an opium agent in Bengal government
       • "Lower-upper middle-class"
     • Taken to England in 1906-7 (?) by his mother
       • Attended an Anglican school in Henly-on-Thames
         • Scholarship to St Cyprian's prep school
           • Scholarship to Eton College
             • Intellectual elite
             • Developed passion for lit.
       • Goes to Burma aged 19 to be a policeman
         • Practical consequences of imperialism
         • Returns to London aged 24 to make living as a writer
           • London still focal point of society
           • 1928: Moved to Paris for a year and a half to write (unsuccessfully)
   • Married in 1936
     • Went to fight in Spain later that year for the republic
       • Escaped after being wounded a year later
       • Made repeated attempts to enter army despite tuberculosis

2. Social impact

   • Early 20th C. marked boost in philanthropy
     • Orwell's writing situated in this
       • Lived in Paris in poverty willingly
         • Social investigation

3. Literature

   • Orwell didn't have a wide audience
     • 'Animal Farm' brought him instant fame
   • Themes
     • Poverty & the lower-classes
     • War & the military