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Nineteen Eighty-Four

This article is about the 1949 novel by George Orwell. For the year, see 1984. For other uses, see 1984 (disambiguation).

Nineteen Eighty-Four
First-edition cover
AuthorGeorge Orwell
Cover artistMichael Kennard[1]
LanguageEnglish
Genre
Set inLondon, Airstrip One, Oceania
PublisherSecker & Warburg
Publication date
8 June 1949 (1949-06-08)
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Media typePrint (hardback and paperback)
Pages328
OCLC470015866
823.912[2]
LC ClassPZ3.O793 Ni2
Preceded byAnimal Farm 

Nineteen Eighty-Four (also published as 1984) is a dystopian novel and cautionary tale by English writer Eric Arthur Blair, who wrote under the pen name George Orwell. It was published on 8 June 1949 by Secker & Warburg as Orwell's ninth and final book completed in his lifetime. Thematically, it centres on the consequences of totalitarianism, mass surveillance, and repressive regimentation of people and behaviours within society.[3][4] Orwell, a staunch believer in democratic socialism and member of the anti-Stalinist Left, modelled the Britain under authoritarian socialism in the novel on the Soviet Union in the era of Stalinism and on the very similar practices of both censorship and propaganda in Nazi Germany.[5] More broadly, the novel examines the role of truth and facts within societies and the ways in which they can be manipulated.

The story takes place in an imagined future. The current year is uncertain, but believed to be 1984. Much of the world is in perpetual war. Great Britain, now known as Airstrip One, has become a province of the totalitarian superstate Oceania, which is led by Big Brother, a dictatorial leader supported by an intense cult of personality manufactured by the Party's Thought Police. The Party engages in omnipresent government surveillance and, through the Ministry of Truth, historical negationism and constant propaganda to persecute individuality and independent thinking.[6]

The protagonist, Winston Smith, is a diligent mid-level worker at the Ministry of Truth who secretly hates the Party and dreams of rebellion. Smith keeps a forbidden diary. He begins a relationship with a colleague, Julia, and they learn about a shadowy resistance group called the Brotherhood. However, their contact within the Brotherhood turns out to be a Party agent, and Smith and Julia are arrested. He is subjected to months of psychological manipulation and torture by the Ministry of Love. He ultimately betrays Julia and is released; he finally realises he loves Big Brother.

Nineteen Eighty-Four has become a classic literary example of political and dystopian fiction. It also popularised the term "Orwellian" as an adjective, with many terms used in the novel entering common usage, including "Big Brother", "doublethink", "Thought Police", "thoughtcrime", "Newspeak", and "2 + 2 = 5". Parallels have been drawn between the novel's subject matter and real life instances of totalitarianism, mass surveillance, and violations of freedom of expression, among other themes.[7][8][9] Orwell described his book as a "satire",[10] and a display of the "perversions to which a centralised economy is liable," while also stating he believed "that something resembling it could arrive."[10] Time included the novel on its list of the 100 best English-language novels published from 1923 to 2005,[11] and it was placed on the Modern Library's 100 Best Novels list, reaching number 13 on the editors' list and number 6 on the readers' list.[12] In 2003, it was listed at number eight on The Big Read survey by the BBC.[13] It has been adapted across media since its publication, most notably as a film, released in 1984, starring John Hurt, Suzanna Hamilton and Richard Burton, and as an audio drama in 2024 starring Andrew Garfield, Andrew Scott, Cynthia Erivo and Tom Hardy.

  1. ^ "Nineteen Eighty-Four". knowthyshelf.com. 13 August 2015. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
  2. ^ "Classify". OCLC. Archived from the original on 2 February 2019. Retrieved 22 May 2017.
  3. ^ Murphy, Bruce (1996). Benét's reader's encyclopedia. New York: Harper Collins. p. 734. ISBN 978-0-06-181088-6. OCLC 35572906.
  4. ^ Aaronovitch, David (8 February 2013). "1984: George Orwell's road to dystopia". BBC News. Archived from the original on 24 January 2018. Retrieved 8 February 2013.
  5. ^ Lynskey, Dorian (10 June 2019). "George Orwell's 1984: Why it still matters". BBC News. Archived from the original on 12 October 2023. Retrieved 7 October 2023 – via YouTube.
  6. ^ Chernow, Barbara; Vallasi, George (1993). The Columbia Encyclopedia (5th ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin. p. 2030. OCLC 334011745.
  7. ^ Crouch, Ian (11 June 2013). "So Are We Living in 1984?". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on 10 September 2023. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  8. ^ Seaton, Jean. "Why Orwell's 1984 could be about now". BBC. Archived from the original on 10 May 2020. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  9. ^ Leetaru, Kalev. "As Orwell's 1984 Turns 70 It Predicted Much of Today's Surveillance Society". Forbes. Archived from the original on 27 March 2023. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  10. ^ a b "The savage satire of '1984' still speaks to us today". The Independent. 7 June 1999. Archived from the original on 7 January 2023. Retrieved 7 January 2023. Orwell said that his book was a satire – a warning certainly, but in the form of satire.
  11. ^ Grossman, Lev (8 January 2010). "Is 1984 one of the All-TIME 100 Best Novels?". Time. Archived from the original on 20 August 2017. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  12. ^ "100 Best Novels « Modern Library". www.modernlibrary.com. Archived from the original on 2 October 2010. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  13. ^ "BBC – The Big Read – Top 100 Books". BBC. Archived from the original on 31 October 2012. Retrieved 29 December 2022.

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