Orwell, George (1903–1950)

GEORGE ORWELL is the English author of several books, the most well known of which are 1984 and Animal Farm. The themes of his numerous writings, which range from essays to novels to memoirs, reflect his major political concerns and perspective. Although his writing style is clear and direct, he was a very complex character who experienced radical shifts in his political beliefs, thus making it hard to label him as a leftist or rightist.

Orwell was born in Bengal, India. He studied at Eton and then worked from 1922 to 1927 in the Imperial Police force in Burma, then part of the British Empire. He resigned and decided to become a writer. In 1934 he published Burmese Days, a fictional account of the lives of ...