Which author wrote the allegorical novella "Animal Farm"?

George Orwell wrote the allegorical novella Animal Farm. First published in England on 17 August 1945, it uses a rebellion by farm animals to examine political power, propaganda, inequality, and the betrayal of revolutionary ideals.

The animals initially hope to replace human rule with a society in which all animals are equal. After the rebellion, however, the pigs gradually take control, especially Napoleon, while language and history are manipulated to justify their authority. The story’s fable-like simplicity makes its political warnings unusually accessible.

Orwell intended the book primarily as a satire of the Russian Revolution and the Soviet Union under Stalin, but its themes extend more broadly to authoritarianism and the corruption of collective movements. The original title included the subtitle A Fairy Story, emphasizing its deliberately simple narrative form.

Animal Farm is often paired with Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four because both works explore totalitarian power and the political abuse of truth. They are different genres: Animal Farm is a satirical beast fable, while Nineteen Eighty-Four is a dystopian novel.