20 Interesting Facts About George Orwell

English writer George Orwell became a truly iconic figure in the history of world literature. He wrote many significant works, but undoubtedly his most famous book is the novel “1984,” a cult dystopia vividly depicting the horrors of a totalitarian society. This work is now considered one of the greatest dystopias ever created, and it has been analyzed by political scientists and literary critics line by line.

Facts from George Orwell’s Biography:

1. The writer was born in India, which was still a British colony at the time.
2. In his youth, he served for a time as a colonial police officer in Burma.
3. Orwell traveled extensively across Europe, surviving on odd jobs.
4. George Orwell’s real name was Eric Arthur Blair. He chose his pen name in honor of the River Orwell.
5. His first work was titled “Down and Out in Paris and London,” and it was based on Orwell’s own biography.
6. When the Spanish Civil War broke out, the writer went there to participate in the fighting on the side of the Republicans.
7. During the fighting, Orwell was wounded in the throat by an enemy sniper and nearly died.
8. Throughout his life, George Orwell was a staunch opponent of the communist regime.
9. For a time, he worked as a literary critic for a British newspaper.
10. When World War II began, Orwell wanted to volunteer for the front but was deemed unfit due to his health.
11. He is credited with coining the term “Cold War.”
12. Orwell was once offered a job in an anti-Soviet propaganda bureau. He declined but recommended a list of well-known individuals he suggested not be involved due to their possible sympathies for communism. This list was published only 50 years later, and it turned out that Orwell had correctly identified many of them as Soviet agents. Interestingly, Orwell also included actor Charlie Chaplin on the list, but in this case, he was mistaken.
13. His famous novella “Animal Farm” is an allegory and, according to Orwell himself, a fable about the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the subsequent events in Russia.
14. George Orwell’s influence on the global public was so great that the term “Orwellian” emerged, describing a situation, idea, or social condition that distorts facts for propaganda purposes. It’s no surprise that this term originated from his novel “1984.”
15. In addition to the aforementioned works, George Orwell wrote numerous articles on cultural and sociological topics.
16. Orwell was married twice. His first wife passed away, and later, a year before his own death, he remarried.
17. Despite the fact that mentions of Orwell were almost completely erased in the USSR until the 1960s, his “Animal Farm” and “1984” were published in small print runs strictly for members of the Communist Party’s Central Committee.
18. Over his lifetime, George Orwell wrote 8 novels and novellas, 16 poems, several dozen short stories, and a dozen reviews, including reviews of the works of Leo Tolstoy, William Shakespeare, and Charles Dickens.
19. Although many see Orwell’s works as satire on totalitarian regimes, British authorities long suspected the writer of close ties to communists. As revealed by a declassified dossier in 2007, British intelligence monitored Orwell from 1929 until almost his death in 1950.
20. In his youth, Orwell was a fan of the science fiction of H.G. Wells, but in the early 1940s, he publicly criticized Wells’ works. In response, Wells sent him a rather sharp personal letter demanding that he take a closer look at his earlier publications.