ERIC ARTHUR BLAIR (1903-1950), pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. After resigning from a position as an Imperial policeman in Burma, he worked as a teacher, a bookseller, and at a variety of menial jobs while he pursued writing. He was wounded fighting in the Spanish Civil War and worked as a journalist during World War II. The publication of Animal Farm brought him worldwide recognition. His last novel, 1984, was published less than a year before his sudden death at the age of forty-six.
