Nineteen Eighty-Four's writer's real name was Eric Arthur Blair.
Eric Arthur Blair ( 25 June 1903 -- 21 January 1950 ) , better known by his pen name George Orwell , was an English novelist , essayist , journalist , and critic . He is best known for the allegorical novella Animal Farm ( 1945 ) and the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four ( 1949 ) . Nineteen Eighty-Four , often published as 1984 , is a dystopian novel published in 1949 by English author George Orwell . The heroine of the novel , Julia , is based on Orwell 's second wife , Sonia Orwell . Sonia Mary Brownell ( 25 August 1918 -- 11 December 1980 ) , better known as Sonia Orwell , was the second and last wife of writer George Orwell , whose real name was Eric Arthur Blair .