George Orwell

BIOGRAPHY

 

Eric Arthur Blair, who used the pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic, who was born in 25 June 1903 Motihari, Presidency, British, he died in 21 January 1950 (aged 46) University College Hospital,London, England. His work is marked by lucid prose, social injustice, opposition to totalitarianism, and support of democratic socialism. One of his most important achievements was to be a participant in the Spanish civil war, concretely in the republican side. He wrote this achievements in his literary work Homage to Catalonia.  

LITERARY WORKS

Throughout his career, he was primarily known for his work as a journalist, especially in his writings as a reporter. In this aspect, you can assign works such as  Homage to Catalonia (1938), which describes his experiences as a militant of the POUM in the Spanish Civil War and expresses its admiration for the revolutionary popular struggle in the areas of Catalonia and Aragon.. He had come with his British passport communist, but he fought with the Anarchism of the POUM,with who first saw Stalin's betrayal, using the Communist Party from the Soviet Union. Disillusionment against socialism and anarchist influence, especially regarding the rejection of any kind of power and authority, even from the working class, are evident in his novels. The second work, The Road to Wigan Pier  describes the poor living conditions of miners in northern England.

Contemporary readers usually arrive first to the author for his novels, particularly through enormously successful titles like Animal Farm (1945) and 1984 (1948). The first is an allegory of the corruption of the socialist ideals of the Russian Revolution by Stalinism. 1984 is a dystopia, Orwell's prophetic vision of a totalitarian society located supposedly in the near future. The star, named Winston, works in the Ministry of Truth, which is dedicated to manipulate and transform the news and history. Gradually, rebelling against the system, even knowing that the struggle may not have a happy ending.

Orwell returned from Catalonia and had become a rabid antiestalinist without ever abandoning his leftist ideology with sympathy for Marxism.