George Orwell

George Orwell
George Orwell
	Orwell in 1943
Born	Eric Arthur Blair; 25 June 1903; Motihari, Bengal Presidency, India; (modern-day Bihar)
Died	21 January 1950 (aged 46); London, England
Burial place	All Saints' Church, Sutton Courtenay, Oxfordshire, England
Education	Eton College
Occupations	Novelist; essayist; journalist; literary critic;
Political party	Independent Labour (from 1938)
Spouses	Eileen O'Shaughnessy (m. 1936; died 1945); Sonia Brownell (m. 1949);
Children	Richard Blair (adopted)
Writing career
Pen name	George Orwell
Language	English
Years active	1928–1949
Genres	Dystopia; roman à clef; satire; literary criticism; polemic; opinion journalism;
Subjects	Anti-fascism; anti-Stalinism; anarchism; democratic socialism;
Notable works	Down and Out in Paris and London (1933); Burmese Days (1934); The Road to Wigan Pier (1937); Homage to Catalonia (1938); Animal Farm (1945); Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949);
Signature

Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950) was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to all totalitarianism (both authoritarian communism and fascism), and support of democratic socialism.

Orwell is best known for his allegorical novella Animal Farm (1945) and the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), although his works also encompass literary criticism, poetry, fiction and polemical journalism. His non-fiction works, including The Road to Wigan Pier (1937), documenting his experience of working-class life in industrial Northern England, and Homage to Catalonia (1938), an account of his experiences soldiering for the Republican faction of the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), are as critically respected as his essays on politics, literature, language and culture.

Orwell's work remains influential in both popular and political culture, with the adjective "Orwellian"—describing totalitarian and authoritarian social practices—becoming part of the English language, as are many of his neologisms, such as "Big Brother", "Thought Police", "Room 101", "Newspeak", "memory hole", "doublethink", and "thoughtcrime". In 2008, The Times named Orwell the second-greatest British writer since 1945.