奥威尔原名埃里克阿瑟布莱尔(Eric Arthur Blair)，1903年生于印度。1907年他举家迁回到英格兰。1917年，他进入伊顿公学。1921年后来到缅甸加入Indianimperial Police，1928年辞职。随后的日子里他贫病交加，此间他当过教师、书店店员，直到1940年，他成为NewEnglish Weekly的小说评论员，他才有了稳定的收入养家糊口。1936年间，他访问了兰开夏郡和约克郡，1936年底，他来到西班牙参加西班牙内战，其间他受伤。二战期间(1940-1943)，他为BBS Eastern Service工作，并在此间写了大量政治和文学评论。1945年起他成为Observer的战地记者和MachesterEvening News的固定撰稿人。1945年，他出版了《动物农场》，1949年出版了《1984》。奥威尔患有肺结核，于1950年死去。

'Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for democratic Socialism as I understand it'. Thus wrote Orwell following his experiences as a militiaman in the Spanish Civil War, chronicled in "Homage to Catalonia". Here he brings to bear all the force of his humanity, passion and clarity, describing with bitter intensity the bright hopes and cynical betrayals of that chaotic episode: the revolutionary euphoria of Barcelona, the courage of ordinary Spanish men and women he fought alongside, the terror and confusion of the front, his near-fatal bullet wound and the vicious treachery of his supposed allies. Eric Arthur Blair (1903-1950), better known by his pen-name, George Orwell, was born in India, where his father worked for the Civil Service. An author and journalist, Orwell was one of the most prominent and influential figures in twentieth-century literature. His unique political allegory "Animal Farm" was published in 1945, and it was this novel, together with the dystopia of "Nineteen Eighty-Four" (1949), which brought him world-wide fame. All his novels and non-fiction, including "Burmese Days" (1934), "Down and Out in Paris and London" (1933), "The Road to Wigan Pier" (1937) and "Homage to Catalonia" (1938) are published in "Penguin Modern Classics". If you enjoyed "Homage to Catalonia", you might like Orwell's "The Road to Wigan Pier", also available in "Penguin Modern Classics". "An unrivalled picture of the rumours, suspicions and treachery of the civil war". (Anthony Beevor, author of "D-Day"). "A war story that is both brutally honest and lyrically beautiful". (Michael Shelden, "Daily Telegraph", Books of the Century).