-
Birth
George Orwell, born Eric Arthur Blair, was born in Motihari, Bengal, India, on June 25 to a minor British official in the Indian civil service and the daughter of a failed teak merchant in Burma. -
Prep School
Upon returning to England with his family, Orwell was sent to a preparatory boarding school in Sussex. He quickly became distinguished for his poverty and brilliance. -
Period: to
Wellington and Eton
After a brief stint at Wellington, to which he had also won a scholarship, he finished his studies at Eton, during which he published his first writing. -
Period: to
Indian Imperial Police
In 1921, rather than attending university (as was common), Orwell followed the family tradition and became a policeman in Burma. He served many stations, before becoming increasingly ashamed of his role in the oppression of the Burmese people. He resigned from the imperial police on January 1, 1928. -
Living with the Poor
Starting in the autumn of 1927, Orwell began living with the poor and outcasts of Europe. He lived in lodging houses with beggars and laborers in England, worked as a dishwasher in Paris, and traveled with vagrants and fieldhands in Kent. These experiences became the basis for his first book, Down and Out in Paris and London. -
Burmese Days
This was Orwell's first novel, which established many key patterns and components of his subsequent writings. It was based on his experiences in the Imperial Police. -
The Road to Wigan Pier
This unorthodox political treatise was Orwell's first socialist book. -
Spanish Civil War
Orwell was forced to flee Spain after fighting against communists in Barcelona and the Spanish Civil War. -
Homage to Catalonia
Considered one of Orwell's best books, Homage to Catalonia was a detailed account of his experiences in Spain and his fear of communism. -
Animal Farm
Although he had difficulty finding a publisher, upon its publishing, Animal Farm became one of Orwell's most famous writings. It was a political fable based on the Russian Revolution and the betrayal of Joseph Stalin. -
Nineteen Eighty-four
Nineteen Eighty-four, a novel written as a warning against Nazism and Stalinism, was Orwell's last book. It remains popular and influential to this day, and many of its coined words and phrases are still used to describe modern political abuses. -
Death
After several bouts of hospitalization for tuberculosis, Orwell finally succumbed to the disease and died in a London hospital in January 1950. -
Such, Such Were the Joys
This was an autobiographical essay, published after his death, that described his miserable years in prep school.