George Orwell

George Orwell (1903 - 1950) is one of the most important writers of the 2oth Century. Born Eric Blair, he was from what he later described as an 'impoverished middle-class' home.

After attending Eton school. he went to serve the British Empire as a policeman in Burma during the 1920s.

He later said, 'In Burma I was hated by large numbers of people – the only time in my life that I have been important enough for this to happen to me.'

Orwell's Burmese experience was the subject of his first novel 'Burmese Days' and some of his most famous essays including: Shooting an Elephant. Simplified version of the complete text (pdf) here:


You can read a simplified and shortened extract of Shooting an Elephant here.

For a simplified version of the complete text (pdf) here.


You can read the complete unabridged, unsimplified text here.