Orwell, George

George Orwell (1903-1950) was born in India and served in the Imperial civil service in Burma for 5 years (1922-27). Then he became disgusted with the social class to which he belonged and sought contact with the poor and the destitute, among whom he found material for 3 novels documentating the great depression of the 30s, "Down and Out in Paris and London" (1933), "Keep the Aspidistra Flying" (1936) and "The Road to Wigan Pier" (1937). In 1936 he went to Spain to fight on the Republican side, but was soon disillusioned by the atrocities of the Communists, whom he attacked in "Animal Farm" (1945) an anti-Communist fable. His later work included the famous novel "Ninetten Eighty-four" (1948), a vision of life under a totalitarian regime, "Shooting the Elephant" (1950), a collection of essays, and his autobiography "Such, Such were the Joys" (published in 1953).