Scarica George Orwell, 1984, politics and the English language e più Appunti in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! GEORGE ORWELL
GEORGE ORWELL
Life
- he was born in 1903 in India (his dad was a colorial officer)
- his original name is Eric Blair
- he took the name George because it's one of the most common names in Great Britain
- he chose Orwell because it's the river that passes trough the town he lived in (he loved it)
- to have a better education his parents sent him in the UK (he studied in Eton)
- personality > independent, atheist, socialist, open, brave, blunt
- after studying he returned to India > he worked for the Indian imperial police in Burma (he worked there for 5 years)
- he hated working for the imperial police > he went back to England on sick-leave
- once back in the UK > he started writing (using the pseudonym of George Orwell)
- social function of the authors > he wrote to inform, to reveal facts and to draw conclusions (to him this was the role of
the artist)
- he worked for the BBC for several time
- he died in 1950
Works
- Down and out in Paris and London > he went to London and Paris without money to have a real experience of life as a
poor person (rebellion against parents > they were wealthy)
- Burmese Days > experience about colonial service in the Indian imperial police
- The road to Wigan Pier > went to live with miners in north England (Manchester...)
- Homage of Catalonia > based on his experience when he fought with the social side in the spanish civil war
- Animal farm > it expresses Orwell's opinion about totalitarianism (this book made him internationally famous)
- 1984 > it's a satire against the totalitarian state (it's his most original novel)
Main themes
- rejection of his English background > he was against colonialism
- middle class > he was emotionally on the side of the working class (even if his life was wealthy)
- language > had to be direct and clean
SOCIAL THEMES
- he was influenced by Dickens in the choice of
- social themes
- realistic language
- mystery caused by poverty
- depravation of society
- he's critical of totalitarianism, the violation of liberty and tyranny in all its forms
The dystopian novel
- After World War Il some intellectuals began criticizing the industrial society and totalitarian states
- Dystopia > describes the most negative, the blackest picture possible of the present and the future to come (it's the opposite
of utopia)
- dystopia > describes a dreadful imaginary society, bringing to the extreme some modern system or idea
- dystopian society individuals > powerless, controlled by an oppressive government and by technology
- hero > questions the social and political systems but he fails to change them
- It's a way of criticising society > the reader can recognize the negative aspects of the dystopian novel
