 |
Resources | Chronology
| Select Bibliography |
|
N.B. The George
Orwell Archive is located at University College, London
and "is the most comprehensive body of research material
relating to the author George Orwell (Eric Blair) (1903-1950)
anywhere. Manuscripts, notebooks and personalia of George
Orwell were presented in 1960 on permanent loan by his widow
on behalf of the George Orwell Archive Trust, supplemented by
donations and purchases. The aim of the Trustees of the
Archive was to make a research centre for Orwell studies, by
bringing together all [Orwell's] printed works, including
newspaper items; private correspondence; other private papers
in the possession of his widow; printed matter other than his
own which will help later generations to understand the
controversies in which he was involved; and tape recordings or
written statements by all with first hand experience of him of
any consequence." (site description was taken from the
Archive home page) |
| An Orwell Chronology |
| 1903 |
Eric Arthur Blair born at
Motihari, Bengal, India, June 25th, son of
Richard Walmesley Blair and Ida Mabel Blair (n�e
Limouzin) |
| 1904 |
Brought to England by his mother.
Family settles in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire |
| 1908-1911 |
Educated at Sunnylands, an
Anglican school, Eastbourne, Sussex |
| 1911-1916 |
Boarder at St. Cyprian's
preparatory school, Eastbourne, Sussex |
| 1912 |
Richard Blair, retired from India
Civil Service, returns to England. Family moved
to Shiplake near Henley |
| 1914 |
First work published: Awake
Young Men of England (poem) |
| 1915 |
Blair family moves back to Henley |
| 1917 |
Spends Lent term at Wellington
College |
| 1917-1921 |
King's Scholar, Eton College |
| 1921 |
Parents move to Southwold,
Suffolk (December) |
| 1922 |
Blair attends cramming
establishment in Southwold (January-June), to
prepare for India Office examinations |
| 1922-1927 |
Assistant Superintendent of
Police, Indian Imperial Police, Burma |
| 1928-1929 |
Lives in Paris, writing and later
working as a dishwasher. Hospitalized with
Pneumonia (February) |
| 1930-1931 |
Goes tramping in London and Home
Counties. Writes early version of Down and
Out in Paris and London. Contributes essays
to Adelphi (The Spike and The
Hanging) under his own name |
| 1932-1933 |
Teaches at the Hawthorns, a small
private school in Hayes, Middlesex |
| 1933 |
First book, Down and Out in
Paris and London published by Victor
Gollancz. Uses pseudonym "George
Orwell" for the first time. Teaches at Frays
College, Middlesex. Hospitalized with pneumonia |
| 1934 |
Gives up teaching. Spends ten
months in Southwold. Burmese Days
published in United States (October). Moves to
Hampstead, London (November) |
| 1934-1935 |
Works as part-time assistant in
Booklover's Corner, Hampstead. A Celergyman's
Daughter published (March 1935). Burmese
Days published in England (June 1935). Meets
Eileen O'Shaughnessy, age 30 |
| 1936 |
In industrial Lancashire and
Yorkshire, investigating working class life and
unemployment at suggestion of Victor Gollancz
(January-March). Moves to Wallington, Herts.
(April). Keep the Aspidistra Flying
published (June). Marries Eileen O'Shaughnessy.
Attends ILP Summer School, Letchworth, Herts.
(July). Leaves for Spain (December) |
| 1937 |
In Spain (January-June). Corporal
with Partido Obrero de Unificacion Marxista
detachment of the Aragon front. Involved in
street fighting in Barcelona between government
and anarchist troops. Wounded in throat by
sniper. Honorable discharge for medical reasons
from P.O.U.M. militia. Evades arrest during
anti-P.O.U.M. purge in Barcelona. The Road to
Wigan Pier published (March)). Left Book
Club edition of 40,000 copies |
| 1938 |
In tuberculosis sanitorium, Kent.
Homage to Catalonia published (April).
Joins ILP (June). Goes to Morocco for his health
(September) |
| 1939 |
Returns to England (March). Coming
Up for Air published (June). Death of father |
| 1940 |
Inside the Whale
published (March). Moves to London (May). Writes
reviews for Time and Tide and Tribune.
Joins Local Defense Volunteers (Home Guards) |
| 1941 |
The Lion and the Unicorn
published (February) |
| 1941-1943 |
Talks Producer, Empire
Department, BBC, in charge of broadcasting to
India and Southeast Asia. Death of mother |
| 1943-1946 |
Literary Editor of Tribune |
| 1944 |
Orwell and Eileen adopt a
one-month old child, whom they name, Richard
Horatio Blair |
| 1945 |
War correspondent for The
Observer in Paris and Cologne (March-May).
Death of Eileen while under anesthetic for
operation (March 29). Covers first post-war
election campaign (June-July). Animal Farm
published (August) |
| 1946 |
Critical Essays
published (February). Moves to Barnhill, Isle of
Jura (May) |
| 1947 |
Enters Hairmyres Hospital, near
Glasgow, with tuberculosis of the left lung
(Christmas Eve) |
| 1948 |
Returns from hospital to Jura
(July). Completes revision of Nineteen
Eighty-Four by December |
| 1949 |
Enters Cotswolds Sanitorium,
Cranham, Gloucestershire (January). Nineteen
Eighty-Four published (June). Over 400,000
copies sold in first year. Transferred from
Cranham to University College Hospital, London
(September). Marries Sonia Bronwell, an editorial
assistant with Horizon, in hospital
(October) |
| 1950 |
Dies suddenly in University
College Hospital, of a hemorrhaged lung (January
21). Buried in the chruchyard of All Saints,
Sutton Courtney, Berkshire |
Select
Bibliography: John Atkins, George Orwell
(1955); Harold Bloom, ed., George Orwell
(1987); P. Buitenhuis, and I. B. Nadel, George
Orwell: A Reassessment (1988); B. Crick, George
Orwell: A Life (1980); Roberta Kalechofsky, George
Orwell (1973); David L. Kubal, Outside the
Whale: George Orwell's Art and Politics (1972); Robert A. Lee, Orwell's Fiction (1969);
Jeffrey Meyers, A Reader's Guide to George Orwell
(1977) and, as ed., George Orwell (1975); B. T. Oxley, George Orwell (1969);
D. Patai, The
Orwell Mystique: A Study in Male Ideology (1984); P. Reilly, George Orwell: The Age's Adversary
(1986); Michael Shelden, Orwell: The Authorized
Biography (1991); P. Stansky, and W. Abrahams, The
Unknown Orwell (1972) and The Transformation
(1979); William Steinhoff, George Orwell and the
Origins of 1984 (1975); Raymond Williams, ed., George
Orwell: A Collection of Critical Essays (1974); George Woodcock, The Crystal Spirit (1966);
Alex Zwerdling, Orwell and the Left (1974).
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