Portrait: George Orwell, an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist and critic

Wednesday, 25 March 2026 - 11:00 am (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination:
Category/Kategorie: Portrait
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George Orwell press photo, 1943 © Branch of the National Union of Journalists

George Orwell press photo, 1943 © Branch of the National Union of Journalists

Eric Arthur Blair was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to all totalitarianism (both authoritarian communism and fascism), and support of democratic socialism.

Orwell is best known for his allegorical novella Animal Farm (1945) and the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), although his works also encompass literary criticism, poetry, fiction and polemical journalism. His non-fiction works, including The Road to Wigan Pier (1937), documenting his experience of working-class life in industrial Northern England, and Homage to Catalonia (1938), an account of his experiences soldiering for the Republican faction of the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), are as critically respected as his essays on politics, literature, language and culture.

2016 Norland Scarecrow Festival © flickr.com - Tim Green/cc-by-2.0 Homage to Catalonia - 1952 title © Goesseln Grave of Eric Arthur Blair (George Orwell), All Saint's, Sutton Courtenay © geograph.org.uk - Brian Robert Marshall/cc-by-sa-2.0 George Orwell press photo, 1943 © Branch of the National Union of Journalists '1984' at The Playhouse in London, 2016 © Bill Peloquin/cc-by-sa-4.0
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Grave of Eric Arthur Blair (George Orwell), All Saint's, Sutton Courtenay © geograph.org.uk - Brian Robert Marshall/cc-by-sa-2.0
Orwell’s work remains influential in popular culture and in political culture, and the adjective “Orwellian“—describing totalitarian and authoritarian social practices—is part of the English language, like many of his neologisms, such as “Big Brother“, “Thought Police“, “Room 101“, “Newspeak“, “memory hole“, “doublethink“, and “thoughtcrime“. In 2008, The Times named Orwell the second-greatest British writer since 1945.

Read more on Wikipedia George Orwell (Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State - Weather report by weather.com - Global Passport Power Rank - Travel Risk Map - Democracy Index - GDP according to IMF, UN, and World Bank - Global Competitiveness Report - Corruption Perceptions Index - Press Freedom Index - World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index - UN Human Development Index - Global Peace Index - Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index). Photos by Wikimedia Commons. If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at comment@wingsch.net. Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.



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