This series provides a valuable introduction to the life and works of selected writers. Each book aims to encourage a critical understanding of the major texts that students are most likely to encounter. These are viewed in relation to the writer's life and literary career, and to the social and political context of the day.

One of the most popular writers of English in the twentieth century, George Orwell is best known for Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four, books which introduced into the English language the famous phrase: 'All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others,' and the terrifying figure of Big Brother. Scourge of communists and conservatives alike, Orwell, whose real name was Eric Blair, was born into a privileged background which he later rejected to live and write among the 'lowest of the low'. This book follows Orwell's fascinating and varied life in the turbulent years of the first half of this century: as a public school-boy, an official in the Indian Imperial Police in Burma; a tramp in Paris and London, a volunteer soldier for the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War, and as a journalist and writer. A close examination of Orwell's essays and novels, in particular The Road To Wigan Pier, Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four, reveals how his works are related to his own experiences and the times in which he lived. We follow Orwell's development as a man and a writer, to his final realization that, unless we do something about it, Nineteen Eighty-Four could happen here.

Nigel Flynn has a degree in English and Philosophy from the University of Lancaster. He is an experienced editor and writer, who has specialized in works on history and literature. The series adviser, Dr Cornelia Cook, is a senior lecturer in English at Queen Mary College, University of London.



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