George Orwell George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, Imperial police officer, and critic whose work is marked by lucid prose, awareness of social injustice, opposition to totalitarianism and outspoken support of democratic socialism. Orwell wrote literary criticism, poetry, fiction and polemical journalism. He is best known for the allegorical novella "Animal Farm" (1945) and the dystopian novel "Nineteen Eighty-Four" (1949). His non-fiction works, including "The Road to Wigan Pier" (1937), documenting his experience of working class life in the north of England,
George Orwell London to cover the 1945 general election at the beginning of July. "Animal Farm: A Fairy Story" was published in Britain on 17 August 1945, and a year later in the US, on 26 August 1946. "Animal Farm" had particular resonance in the post-war climate and its worldwide success made Orwell a sought-after figure. For the next four years, Orwell mixed journalistic work—mainly for "Tribune", "The Observer" and the "Manchester Evening News", though he also contributed to many small-circulation political and literary magazines—with writing his best-known work, "Nineteen Eighty-Four", which was published in 1949. In the year following Eileen's death