Podcast Episode Details
Back to Podcast EpisodesGeorge Orwell, Literary Visionary (Part One)
The creator of 1984 and Animal Farm lived a life that was as original and strange as the books themselves.
Eric Arthur Blair was born in Motihari, Bihar, India on June 25, 1903. He would not assume the pen name of George Orwell until the age of 30. Blair was the son of an English civil servant father and a mother who was the daughter of a French colonial entrepreneur operating in Burma.
Even today, the catalyst for Eric Blair’s employment in Burma remains unclear. Classmates do recall an interest in the region and his father’s career in India and his mother’s connection to Burma most likely made him aware of such a position. But for an alumnus of Eton to apply for such a position was literally unprecedented. Perhaps he was attempting to blot out a failed romance, perhaps it was a feeling that he had little alternative, but in October of 1922, Eric Blair, aged 19, set sail for what was then known as Rangoon.
Through his stint at the bookstore, Orwell did expand his social circle and at a party in March of 1935, he met his future wife, Eileen O’Shaughnessy, a graduate student completing her masters in psychology at the University College London. Having studied at Oxford and at one time an aspiring academic, Eileen had a love of literature and intellectual firepower that George Orwell immediately found very attractive. Although he quickly began to discuss marriage, he also confessed that he was so broke, he couldn’t even afford an engagement ring. He would also continue sleeping with other girlfriends from his bookshop employment days, even after his eventual proposal.
Published on 5 years, 5 months ago