George Orwell

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George Orwell

• Eric ArthurBlair
• 1903-1950

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Biographical Information

• June 25, 1903-January 21, 1950
• Place of Birth Motihari, India
  (now Bihar)
• Place of Death London, England
• Nationality British
• Best known for his satirical novels
• Animal Farm
• Nineteen Eighty-four.

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Biographical Information
.continued

• He was the son of Ida Mabel née Limouzin
  (18751943) and Richard Walmesley Blair
  (18571938).
• In 1936 Blair and once student of J.R.R. Tolkien
  student Eileen O'Shaughnessy(1905-1945)
  married.
• In 1944 they would adopt a son Richard Horatio.

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Early Life Schooling

• At the age of one Blair and his mother settled in
  England his father joined them in 1912.
• At the age of five, Blair entered the Anglican
  Parish School of Henley-on-Thames which he
  attended for two years before entering the
  prestigious St. Cyprians school in Sussex.
• Corporal punishment was common in the day and
  possibly a source of his initial resentment
  towards authority.

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Schooling

• Blair earned a scholarship to the most costly
  and snobbish of the English Public Schools Eton
  College where he attended between 1917 and 1921.

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Indian Civil Service 1922-1927

• Blair went to Burma (now Myanmar) to join the
  Indian Imperial Police.
• During the next five years, he grew to love the
  Burmese and resent the oppression of Imperialism
  and decided to become a writer instead.

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Paris and London 1928-1936

• In the first 6 months after his decision,
  Blair went on what he thought of as an expedition
  to the East End of London to become acquainted
  with the poor people of England.
• As a base, he rented a room in Notting Hill. In
  the spring, he rented a room in a working-class
  district of Paris

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Spanish Civil War

• In July 1936 the Spanish Civil War broke,
  and Orwell went to Spain.
• After his arrival in Barcelona, he joined the
  militia of the POUM (Partido Obrero de
  Unificacion Marxista) and served with them in
  action in January 1937.

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Spanish Civil War

• He transferred to the British Independent Labour
  Party Contingent serving with the POUM militia
  and was wounded.
• His experiences in Spain had made him into a
  revolutionary Socialist.

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World War II

• After World War II began, Orwell wanted to join
  the military.
• The Army, however, rejected him as physically
  unfit, but later he served for a period in the
  home guard and as a fire watcher. The Orwells
  moved to London in May 1940.

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World War II

• In early 1941 he commenced writing "London
  Letters" for Partisan Review.
• In August he joined the British Broadcasting
  Corporation (BBC) as a producer in the Indian
  section. He remained in this position until 1943.

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1943

• The year 1943 was an important one in Orwell's
  life for several reasons.
• His mother died in March.
• He left the BBC to become literary editor of the
  Tribune.
• The most important event occurred late that year,
  when he commenced the writing of Animal Farm.
• Orwell had completed this satire by February 1944.

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Final Years

• In 1946, he settled on Jura off the coast of
  Scotland
• Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) is an elaborate
  satire on modern politics, prophesying a world
  perpetually laid waste by warring dictators.
• Orwell entered a London hospital in September
  1949 and the next month married Sonia Brownell.
• He died in London on Jan. 21, 1950.

• .

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During times of universal deceit, telling the
truth becomes a revolutionary act.George
Orwell