George Orwell

George Orwell’s Followers (50,817)

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George Orwell


Born
in Motihari, Bengal Presidency, British India
June 25, 1903

Died
January 21, 1950

Website

Genre

Influences


Eric Arthur Blair was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to all totalitarianism (both fascism and stalinism), and support of democratic socialism.

Orwell is best known for his allegorical novella Animal Farm (1945) and the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), although his works also encompass literary criticism, poetry, fiction and polemical journalism. His non-fiction works, including The Road to Wigan Pier (1937), documenting his experience of working-class life in the industrial north of England, and Homage to Catalonia (1938), an account of his experiences soldiering for the
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Average rating: 4.12 · 10,676,168 ratings · 328,106 reviews · 1,261 distinct worksSimilar authors
1984

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4.20 avg rating — 5,451,302 ratings — published 1949 — 146 editions
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Animal Farm

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4.02 avg rating — 4,543,140 ratings — published 1945 — 4328 editions
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Animal Farm / 1984

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4.30 avg rating — 215,962 ratings320 editions
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Down and Out in Paris and L...

4.09 avg rating — 101,043 ratings — published 1933 — 9 editions
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Homage to Catalonia

4.10 avg rating — 71,234 ratings — published 1938 — 643 editions
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Burmese Days

3.87 avg rating — 32,376 ratings — published 1934 — 457 editions
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The Road to Wigan Pier

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3.91 avg rating — 28,463 ratings — published 1937 — 6 editions
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Keep the Aspidistra Flying

3.89 avg rating — 25,313 ratings — published 1936 — 332 editions
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Coming up for Air

3.78 avg rating — 21,517 ratings — published 1939 — 6 editions
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Why I Write

4.01 avg rating — 15,210 ratings — published 1946 — 36 editions
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More books by George Orwell…
An Age Like This: 1920-1940 My Country Right or Left: 1... As I Please: 1943-1945 In Front of Your Nose: 1945...
(4 books)
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4.33 avg rating — 1,839 ratings

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Quotes by George Orwell  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“Perhaps one did not want to be loved so much as to be understood.”
George Orwell, 1984

“Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.”
George Orwell, 1984

“In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”
George Orwell

Polls

126686
January 2016 Banned Books is the theme this month.

Poll will be open from 11/29/5 to 12/12/15.

I used the lists below for Banned Books research:
American Library Association Banned Books Lists
Top 10 Banned Books of All Time
Top 10 Controversial Titles of the 20th Century

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
Why is it banned? Violence, glorifying murderous & psychotic behavior, etc. Germany deemed it harmful to minors. It was banned in Canada until very recently, and it’s banned in the Australian state of Queensland and is restricted to over 18s only in all other states. In Canada, the book generated renewed controversy during the trial of serial killer Paul Bernardo after it was discovered that Bernardo owned a copy of the book and had "read it as his 'bible'
 
  3 votes, 37.5%

Dude,.. I don't care.
 
  1 vote, 12.5%

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Why was it banned? Theme isn't dissimilar to 1984. Initially, Ireland pulled it off the shelves for its controversial themes on child birth, before several states in the US tried to have it removed from school curriculums due to its “themes on negativity.”
 
  1 vote, 12.5%

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
This story about banning books was itself banned in several American states, which cited offensive language and content. The striking cover art by Joe Pernaciaro and Joseph Mugnaini has become one of the most powerful and iconic images of 20th-century literature. The distraught figure that graces the cover is comprised of book pages and stands over a pile of burning books—a haunting, and powerful image that personifies the demise of independent thought and the freedom to read.
 
  1 vote, 12.5%

Animal Farm by George Orwell
Although it will come as no surprise that Orwell’s thinly veiled satire of the brutalities of communism was banned in the Stalinist USSR, its status as a banned book has lasted well past the fall of the Berlin Wall. It is still banned in Cuba and North Korea (for the same reasons as it was banned by the Soviets), and has also been prohibited in Kenya for its criticism of corruption and, more bizarrely by UAE schools for its depiction of a talking pig which was deemed as contrary to Muslim values.
 
  1 vote, 12.5%

The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
Why was it banned? Many in the Islamic community saw Rushdie’s take on Islam to be blasphemous. In Venezuela, you would be imprisoned for 15 months if caught reading the book, while Japan issued fines for people who sold the English-language edition. Even in the US, two major bookshops refused to sell the book after death threats were received.
 
  1 vote, 12.5%

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