Nineteen Eighty-Four in Utopian and Dystopian Reading Group

Jan 23, 2013 Lit Bug (Foram) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: owned, sf, literary, novels, british, dystopia

An important sci-fi dystopia novel written in the 1940s, it deals with an imagined world called Oceania that rules its subjects through systematic brainwashing and ingenious methods of tracking and punishment. Far ahead of its time, it presents a chilling future that still doesn't seem implausible.

Trapped in a vicious society that watches over its members closely for signs of rebellion, the protagonist meets his fate as we are silently forced to read it.

Orwell, in this novel, has progressed far An important sci-fi dystopia novel written in the 1940s, it deals with an imagined world called Oceania that rules its subjects through systematic brainwashing and ingenious methods of tracking and punishment. Far ahead of its time, it presents a chilling future that still doesn't seem implausible.

Trapped in a vicious society that watches over its members closely for signs of rebellion, the protagonist meets his fate as we are silently forced to read it.

Orwell, in this novel, has progressed far beyond the much-simplistic Animal Farm though they appeared only within a few years of each other. The chilling logic detailed by Orwell that hold this society together is more than convincing. His invention of the new language, Newspeak is far from ludicrous. It is very well possible given favorable circumstances to build a world like Oceania, and it is what a few countries have already built today. A relentless system that monitors closely an individual's leanings, alters past history, blocks the portals to outside knowledge or anything counter-productive to the state, training children to hold over their parents, brainwashing propaganda, torture for non-compliance - these are already happening in some nations to an appalling degree that we tend to ignore.

The logic on which Orwell builds his seemingly impossible world is actually very close to reality, hence all the more chilling.

The science part of SF is now obsolete - telescreens, hidden microphones are now passe, but given the time-frame when it was published, it can be argued that it is still sci-fi. Now, I read it more as a political/social dystopia than an SF dystopia.

Orwell's language is, thankfully, free of ornamentation that plagued early 20th century prose - his forthright style is well-intended, though it seems to miss the mark. For such a strong plot, the language was a letdown, though not completely. For me, language always has been a weak point in Orwell's works.

Despite that, 1984 is a superb work - timeless, highly original and highly relevant. ...more

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