George orwell adventure

Antonio Graceffo, PhD, China-MBA
安东尼博士)
SILC Shanghai University
悉尼工商学院上海大学
SILC Talk: Adventure Author, George Orwell (1903-1950)
socialist and adventurer, British Empire policeman in Burma
and a volunteer in the Spanish Civil War. He lived among the
poor in London and Paris, as well as among coal miners in
Wigan. His greatest contribution to both literature and
political science was 1984.
SILC Talk: Week 6, Thursday, May 4, at 12:30 in the ILC

安东尼博士)
British Author, George Orwell (1903-1950)
was a socialist and adventurer, British
Empire policeman in Burma and a volunteer
in the Spanish Civil War. He lived among the
poor in London and Paris, as well as among
coal miners in Wigan. He was a socialist, but
one who wrote commercially successful
works. His greatest contribution to both
literature and political science was 1984
which has been used by both the left and the
right to prove the evils of the opposing
political view.

安东尼博士)
“Though a socialist, he wrote for the market, and he
knew how to keep the customer satisfied.”
Joseph Sobran
‘"Orwell" is a fiction. Blair created him… He's an
attitude, not a real human being, and we enjoy seeing
the attitude apply itself to real subjects.’
Joseph Sobran

安东尼博士)
One of the most influential authors of the
20th Century, he permanently altered the
English language by having invented the
concept of Big Brother, Thought Police,
Room 101, memory hole, newspeak,
doublethink, thoughtcrime, and cold war,.
George Orwell also inspired his own
adjective “Orwellian”.

安东尼博士)
His most important works include Nineteen Eighty-Four (published
in 1949) and the novella Animal Farm (1945). Other notable works
include The Road to Wigan Pier (1937), Homage to Catalonia
(1938), Down and Out in Paris and London (1933), Shooting an
Elephant (1936), Burmese Days (1934), and the short story

安东尼博士)
Eric Arthur Blair, born, June 25, 1903, in Motihari, Bengal Presidency
(present-day Bihar), in British India. His mother’s family were lower-
upper class, with income from land owned in Jamaica. His father worked
in the Opium Department of the Indian Civil Service. His mother had
grown up in Burma. When Eric was one, his mother took him and his
sister to England. He didn’t see his father again till 1912.

安东尼博士)
At the age of five, Eric began attending
Catholic school In September 1911 Eric
received a scholarship to attend St Cyprian's
boarding school. He had two pieces
published as a school boy and won a history
award, which earned him scholarships to
Eton, which he attended from 1917 until
1921. Among his teachers was French author
Aldous Huxley. He was a lazy student but he
worked on the school literary magazine, The
Election Times.

安东尼博士)
Three related works
Burmese Days (1934), Nineteen Eighty-Four (published in
1949) and the novella Animal Farm (1945).
Burmese Days – Empire, one group with power,
education and money subjugating a weaker group.
Real life inspiration: Orwell was born in
British India and served as a British Empire
policeman in Burma. He questioned the
rightness of empire and the right of the
British to rule.

安东尼博士)
The animals begin to question why the farmer should be allowed
to own and control them. The most intelligent animals, the pigs,
lead a revolution, using the physical power of the horse and the
dogs, to overthrow the farmers. Afterwards, the pigs become
corrupt and exploit the animals the same as the previous masters.
Animal Farm (1945)
Real life inspiration – George Orwell had lived in the
slums of Paris and London and the coal mining
community of Wigan, England. This lead to his
feelings of sympathy for the poor and for his socialist
writings.

Real life inspiration – After World War II
fear of a government taking power and
controlling the citizens too closely was a
common fear. Hitler in Germany or Kim
Jung-un in North Korea would be examples.
Nineteen Eighty-Four (published in 1949)
A dystopic future where, ruled by a powerful leader called Big
Brother, human beings are stripped of their individuality and
personal choice. Punished for “thought crimes” Big Brother even
controls their thinking, not allowing them to remember or discuss
the world before the revolution.
安东尼博士)

安东尼博士)
Aldous Huxley wrote A Brave New World
which was thematically similar to both
Animal Farm and 1984
You will find that great authors often knew each other or
that they read each other’s work, inspiring one-another. Or,
because they wrote at the same time, the same societal
and historical events inspired similar writing.

安东尼博士)
Political and social allegory
Animal Farm (1945)
compared to
Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels (1726)
Gulliver’s Travels criticizes the monarchy in England.
Insulting or even questioning a king was not safe to do,
so Jonathan Swift created a fictional world where the
king was represented by a giant and the common people
were represented by the Lilliputian, small people.

Literary theme: Great authors inspire other great authors, or
because they lived in the same times, two authors may have written
about similar themes. We will look at similarities between Jack
London, Ernest Hemingway, and George Orwell.
安东尼博士)

Orwell spoke French well enough to write
and publish stories in that language. He also
spoke several Burmese regional languages as
well as Hindi, the main dialect of India.
Hemingway spoke Spanish extremely well, he
also spoke French, Italian, and German.

Orwell – Burma, India, London, and Paris
There is no evidence that London spoke
languages but all three men traveled
extensively and wrote both fiction and non-
fiction books about faraway places.
Jack London – The Klondike, Hawaii, Manchuria
Hemingway – Paris, Spain, Italy, Cuba and Africa

安东尼博士)
At age 19, George Orwell went on to be an
empire policeman in Burma. Hemingway at
19 served as a Red Cross ambulance driver
in the first world war. London was 19 when
he returned from the Klondike, where he had
been prospecting for gold.

安东尼博士)
Inspired by American author Jack London’s The Road (1907),
Orwell lived among the poor, recording his experiences and
observations in his first book, Down and Out in Paris and
London (1933).

安东尼博士)
The lives of the poor
George Orwell’s The Road to Wigan Pier (1937),
reminiscent of
Jack London’s The People of the Abyss (1902)

安东尼博士)
Both London and Orwell became involved in socialism

安东尼博士)
Orwell’s Burmese Days (1934),
similar to
Hemingway’s The Green Hills of Africa (1935)

安东尼博士)
Orwell’s Shooting an Elephant (1936) Hemingway on
hunting in Africa,
The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber (1936)

安东尼博士)
Both Hemingway and Orwell served in the
Spanish Civil War
Orwell’s Homage to Catalonia (1938)
compared to
Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940)

安东尼博士)
All three men served in wars, an experience
which heavily influenced their writing

安东尼博士)
Great authors are inspired by other great authors.
Conclusion:Great lives make great authors.
The first step to being a great author is living a life worth writing about.
Great authors read extensively – You become
great by reading others who are great.

安东尼博士)
Now go read a
book.
And
LIVE YOUR
LIFE
You’ve listened to me talk long enough.
But most importantly
WRITE, WRITE, WRITE!

Dr. Antonio Graceffo, PhD, China MBA (安东尼博士)
School of Economics Shanghai University
上海大学经济学院
Contact: antonio_graceffo@hotmail.com
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/antoniograceffo
Antonio Graceffo (安东尼博士)
谢谢大家听我的报告

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