George Orwell

George Orwell, born Eric Arthur Blair in 1903 in Bengal, India, is one of the most influential political writers of the 20th century. He served in the Indian Imperial Police in Burma, an experience that fueled his anti-imperialist views, later documented in Burmese Days. His immersion in poverty and working-class life in England and Paris inspired Down and Out in Paris and London. Orwell's allegorical novella Animal Farm (1945) satirizes the Russian Revolution and totalitarianism, while his masterpiece Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) introduced concepts like 'Big Brother' and 'doublethink' that remain central to discussions of surveillance and authoritarianism. A master of clear, direct prose, Orwell also wrote influential essays such as 'Politics and the English Language.' His literary legacy endures as a moral compass for political writing and a warning against the abuse of power.