Animal Farm

GEORGE ORWELL (Eric Arthur Blair)

born 1903 in Bengal/India (son of a minor official)

sent to a boarding school in England, which was to prepare him for Harrow or Eton

1917 went to Eton on a scholarship, where he graduated in 1921, but did not go to university.

1922 Instead he joined the Civil Service and went to Burma as a seargent in the Indian Imperial Police (->"Burmese Days" 1934)

1927 he decided to quit and to live among poor people in Paris and London (->"Down and out in Paris and London"1933)

- he worked as a teacher, married, and his wife kept a tavern and a general store - small income and little success as a writer (->"A Clergyman`s Daughter" 1935)

- he worked in a bookstore, became an active socialist and started writing about depressed industrial area (->"The Road to Wigan Pier" 1937)

1937 he joined the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War (P.O.U.M.) and was badly wounded on the front. What he saw in Spain shocked him badly and he was particularly horrified by the politics of the communists. He wrote that down in ->"Hommage to Catalonia" 1938

1939 back in England he worked as a political journalist and his books began to sell well

1943/44 he wrote -> "ANIMAL FARM", a satire.

1946 he moved to the Scottish Hebrides to live in isolation and to complete a book containing the ideas which concerned him most -> "1984", (ed.1949)

1950 he died of tuberculosis in London

"I belong to the Left and must work inside it, much as I hate Russian totalitarianism and its poisonous influence in this country." (Letter from November 15th, 1945)

"Every line of serious work I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for democratic Socialism, as I understand it." ("Why I write", 1946)

Summary writing

Guidelines for summary writing

The novel "...." was written by .... in 19.... (introduction)

It tells the story of/deals with/leads us into the world of ... (subject)

The story takes place in/on ..... during ....../sometime in .... (setting).

It is told from the point of view of ..... (narrator)

The main characters is/are .... (protagonists)

(Now summarize the plot very briefly) (the plot)

But in spite of all the animals, this novel is not about animals in the first place, it is about... (intentions)

The author´s intention is to show that/how/why ... (message)

In my opinion he succeeded quite well/not at all/ only partly ... (evaluation)

All in all / to come to the end / to sum it up / finally ... (the end)

See also

• George Orwell (in German Language)