1984George Orwell’s 1984 takes on new life with extraordinary relevance and renewed popularity. “Orwell saw, to his credit, that the act of falsifying reality is only secondarily a way of changing perceptions. It is, above all, a way of asserting power.”—The New Yorker In 1984, London is a grim city in the totalitarian state of Oceania where Big Brother is always watching you and the Thought Police can practically read your mind. Winston Smith is a man in grave danger for the simple reason that his memory still functions. Drawn into a forbidden love affair, Winston finds the courage to join a secret revolutionary organization called The Brotherhood, dedicated to the destruction of the Party. Together with his beloved Julia, he hazards his life in a deadly match against the powers that be. Lionel Trilling said of Orwell’s masterpiece, “1984 is a profound, terrifying, and wholly fascinating book. It is a fantasy of the political future, and like any such fantasy, serves its author as a magnifying device for an examination of the present.” Though the year 1984 now exists in the past, Orwell’s novel remains an urgent call for the individual willing to speak truth to power. |
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NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR
User Review - KirkusThe Book-of-the-Month Club dual selection, with John Gunther's Behind the Curtain (1949), for July, this projects life under perfected state controls. It presages with no uncertainty the horrors and ... Read full review
Work of art
User Review - brokn610 - BordersBoth informative and entertaining, this novel is amazingly built and split into three parts that are sure to get the attention of boys who love the gory themes and those who are looking for a deeper ... Read full review
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Common terms and phrases
already Big Brother body called cell Charrington Comrade confess conscious Crimestop dark diary door doublethink dream Eastasia enemy enormous Eurasia everything exist eyes face feeling felt fingers floor girl glass Goldstein hair hand happened Hate Week head heart human Ingsoc Inner Party Julia kind knew lived looked meaning memory merely meters mind Ministry of Love Ministry of Plenty Ministry of Truth Minutes Hate never Newspeak words O’Brien Oceania Oldspeak once one’s Outer Party pain Party member past perhaps person piece possible proles remember Revolution round say the bells seemed seen shouting side simply sitting smell sometimes somewhere sort speak speakwrite stood stopped street suddenly Syme talking telescreen There’s thing Thought Police thoughtcrime took turned vaguely Victory vocabulary voice walked wall whole Winston woman
Bibliographic information
| Title | 1984 |
| Author | George Orwell |
| Edition | unabridged, reprint |
| Publisher | Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1983 |
| ISBN | 0547249640, 9780547249643 |
| Length | 648 pages |
| Subjects | › Fiction / Classics Fiction / Dystopian Fiction / Literary Fiction / Political |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |