It was the first English novel I read, fifty five years ago. Well, I had struggled with E.M. Forster's A passage to India before that, without success. I understood and was mesmerized by Aspidistra. It gave a peek into an alien world, alien because I had presumed it to have endless prosperity for everybody. That it had poverty and that people struggled with it, was a powerful revelation.
The strong, honest writing caught me by my throat. Words, phrases in the book became etched in my mind. It also set the bar high.
There are gradations among artists. Only a few are as honest in their writing as is Orwell. His life is clearly reflected in the novel. Because he showed promise at an early age, his father, a policeman in British India sent him to a reputed public school in England. It was difficult to adjust to its world. He worked hard but acutely felt the difference in background as compared to other students.
He decided to be a writer and lack of money was a big problem. He went back to Burma - part of British India. He was in Paris for two years and then he came to England and worked as a private tutor, school teacher and bookshop assistant, all the while contributing articles and reviews to periodicals.
He published Down and out in Paris and London, a reportage in 1933. He passionately believed in socialism - an alternative society where an even, need-based distribution of resources would remove the indignities of poverty. He fought in the Spanish war in 1937.
Later of course, he became disillusioned with the totalitarianism associated with socialism in Russia and that brought out The animal farm and 1984 - his best-known novels. He was a great essayist too, throughout his life.
To me however, Burmese days and Aspidistra (Orwell himself was not too fond of them and had ridiculed the plot twists he had designed in the former) remain abiding favourites and they are my answer to why Orwell was one of the greater writers of 20th century.
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