An anarchist in the late 1920s, by the 1930s he had begun to consider himself a socialist. In 1936, he wrote an account of poverty among unemployed miners in northern England, which resulted in (1937). The crucial political experience of his life was the six months he spent in Spain, in 1937, as a Republican volunteer against Francisco Franco. Spain made Orwell “believe in Socialism for the first time”, as he wrote, while instilling a strong hatred of totalitarian political systems. , an account of his time in Spain, was published in 1938. Between 1941 and 1943, Orwell worked for the BBC. In 1943, he became literary editor of the Tribune, a left-wing weekly magazine. By now, he was a prolific journalist, writing articles, reviews and books. , his bitter satire of the Soviet experiment, was written by the middle of 1944. This political fable, based on Stalin’s betrayal of the Russian Revolution, made Orwell famous and ensured he was financially comfortable for the first time in his life. Publishers’ timidity, and the pressure exerted by a Russian spy working for the Ministry of Information, delayed the appearance of this allegorical short novel until August 1945. Five months earlier, Eileen had died during an operation. The couple had previously adopted a small boy, Richard Horatio Blair. was published four years later (1949). This book, which is set in an imaginary totalitarian future, made a deep impression. Its title and many phrases, such as, ‘Big Brother is watching you’, ‘newspeak’ and ‘doublethink’ entered popular use. The enormous international success of this dystopian10 novel came too late for its author. Orwell’s health was slowly deteriorating and shortly before his death, he made an unexpected second marriage to Sonia Brownell, the assistant editor of a literary magazine. He died of tuberculosis on 21st January 1950, aged 46. 5 The Road to Wigan Pier 6 Homage to Catalonia Animal Farm 7 8 Nineteen Eighty-Four 9 account: a written or spoken description of an event. hatred: hate; opposite of love. betrayal: the act of ignoring your principles or beliefs in order to achieve something or gain an advantage for yourself. delayed: made something happen at a later time than originally planned or expected. is set: takes place. dystopian: describing a negative society 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.