Spike, The

di George Orwell (Autore)

The Copyright Group, 2026

Eric Arthur Blair was born on 25th June 1903 in Motihari, Bihar, in what was then British India. When Eric was one his mother took him to England and they settled at Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire. His education was at the nearby convent school before moving on to St Cyprian's School at Eastbourne and finally Eton where his academic studies were sidelined in favour of work on college publications. University could not be achieved without a scholarship, which depended on good grades, and so it was decided that Eric should join the Imperial Police. Now 19 he chose a posting in Burma, then a province of British India. He was appointed an Assistant District Superintendent in November 1922. In Burma, he was an outsider. However, he acquired a moustache and some local tattoos—small badly drawn blue circles on his knuckles. In 1927 he contracted dengue fever and returned to England to convalesce. At home he reappraised his life and resigned his job to become a writer. His police experiences were later used for ‘Burmese Days’. By 1932 he had a literary agent who secured him an offer to publish a non-fiction work ‘Down and Out in London and Paris’ for a £40 advance, through the radical and socialist Victor Gollancz publishing house. It was published in January 1933 as ‘by George Orwell’, it was modestly successful. ‘Burmese Days’ (1934) and ‘A Clergyman's Daughter’ (1935) were published whilst Orwell kept on with writing ‘Keep the Aspidistra Flying’. In January 1936, he set out by public transport to research life for the ordinary man and woman in Wigan. From these experiences emerged ‘The Road to Wigan Pier’. He also caught the eye of Special Branch who kept him under surveillance until the year before the release of ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’. Later in December 1936 Orwell set out to fight in the Spanish Civil War. Initially stationed at Alcubierre 1,500 feet above sea level, in the depth of winter on the Aragon Front. Military action was scant as was the lack of munitions, food and firewood. In April, Orwell returned to Barcelona and was caught up in the Barcelona May Days and its factional in-fighting. Returning to the Aragon Front he was almost immediately hit by a sniper's bullet through the throat. The bullet barely missed the artery but he survived. His experiences were expressed in ‘Homage to Catalonia’ (1938) but, out of fashion with its times, it was a commercial failure. When World War Two started Orwell was declared ‘unfit for any kind of military service’ but finally obtained ‘war work’ with the BBC's Eastern Service. In September 1943, after two years Orwell left the BBC to concentrate on a new idea: ‘Animal Farm’. By April 1944 ‘Animal Farm’ was ready for publication. It was a huge and resounding success. Orwell left London for the island of Jura in April 1947 to work on ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’. Once more health became an issue and in December a chest specialist was summoned from Glasgow who diagnosed tuberculosis. By the end of July Orwell was able to return to Jura to finish ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’. It was published the following June to immediate critical and popular acclaim. By Christmas Orwell's health had again begun to decline. Early on the morning of 21st January, an artery burst in Orwell's lungs. It was fatal. He was dead at 46.

• Autore: George Orwell
• Durata in (hh:mm:ss): 00:21:37
• Anno edizione: 2026
• Editore: The Copyright Group
• Lingua: Inglese
• EAN: 9781807549435