On this date in English literary history – June 6, 1949,
George Orwell's novel, Nineteen Eighty-four, was published. The novel's
all-seeing leader, known as "Big Brother," becomes a universal symbol
for intrusive government and oppressive bureaucracy. Born Eric Blair on June
25, 1903 in India, the son of a British civil servant, Orwell attended school
in London and won a scholarship to the elite prep school Eton. After graduation
Orwell joined the Indian Imperial Police and went to work in Burma in 1922. Five
years later he returned to England. He then choose to immerse himself in the
experiences of the urban poor, went to Paris, where he worked menial jobs, and
later spent time in England as a tramp. He wrote Down and Out in Paris and
London in 1933, based on his observation of the poorer classes, and in 1937
his Road to Wigan Pier documented the life of the unemployed in northern
England. Meanwhile, he had published his first novel, Burmese Days, in
1934. Orwell became increasingly left wing in his views, although he never
committed himself to any specific political party. He went to Spain during the
Spanish Civil War to fight with the Republicans, but later fled as communism
gained an upper hand in the struggle on the left. His barnyard fable, Animal
Farm (1945), shows how the noble ideals of egalitarian economies can easily
be distorted. The book brought him his first taste of critical and financial
success. Orwell's last novel, Nineteen Eighty-four, brought him lasting
fame with its grim vision of a future where all citizens are watched constantly
and language is twisted to aid in oppression. Orwell died of tuberculosis on
January 21, 1950.
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