Brain Snacks: Tasty Tidbits of Knowledge
Orwell is so NOT his real name. It’s Eric Arthur Blair. (Source)
Orwell came up for the idea of Animal Farm when he saw a boy whipping a horse. If only the horse were aware of its own strength, he thought. (Source)
No one wanted to publish Animal Farm in England or America. American publisher Alfred Knopf even told Orwell it was "impossible to sell animal stories in the U.S.A." Ha. Guess he didn't read past the first chapter. (source)
Orwell originally wrote a preface to Animal Farm called "The Freedom of the Press," which attacked British censorship—but he removed it, apparently to make finding a publisher easier. That's an ironic bit of self-censorship for you. (source)
George Orwell was born Eric Arthur Blair. He changed his name in 1933 because he was about to publish a book about living as a tramp, and he didn't want to embarrass his family. How thoughtful! (source)
The communist Soviet Union officially became the republican Russian Federation in 1991. If you're looking for a real-life Animal Farm today, you might check out North Korea: it's a totalitarian state that started out socialist and quickly turned into a Stalinist dictatorship—Dear Leader and all. (source)