'Big Brother'. 'Newspeak'. 'Room 101'. 'Doublethink'. Few writers can boast the brilliant legacy of George Orwell, both in his numerous additions to the English language and his profound influence on world literature. Now, on the centenary of Orwell's birth, Gordon Bowker's excellent new biography brings to life the man behind the words.
In fascinating detail, Bowker describes the remarkable chapters in Orwell's life: his early childhood and Eton upbringing; his time in Burma as a policeman and his return to England to become a writer; his astonishing reportage about poverty in Britain and France that made his name; fighting against fascists in Spain and working for the BBC during the war; the extraordinary success of 'Animal Farm' and 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' in the years before his death.
The portrait that emerges is of a writer of undoubted genius - a glorious combination of acute political insight, crystalline prose and frustrated passion - but also an individual of curious contradictions.
