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1984

By George Orwell

(2453)

| Audio CD | 9780786183920

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Book Description

Orwell depicts a gray world dominated by Big Brother and its vast network of agents, including the Thought Police, quashing freedom in a totalitarian world in which news is manufactured according to the authorities' will and people live tepid lives by rote.

Winston Smith, the hero with no heroic Continue

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Recensione libro "1984″

Prezzo: € 9 Di cosa parla “1984” di George Orwell “ 1984” è un romanzo visionario e allo stesso tempo estremamente attuale, nonostante sia stato pubblica nel lontano 1949. Nel 1984 la dittatura socialista ha preso possesso di tutta l’Europa, modifica ... (read full critics)

recensionelibro published on Fri, 17 Feb 2012

1984

È il 1984. Oceania, Estasia ed Eurasia, le uniche tre grandi nazioni in cui il globo terrestre è diviso, combattono una guerra senza esclusione di colpi e di mutevoli alleanze. Ogni stato è separato dagli altri dall'odio e dal pregiudizio; ogni popol ... (read full critics)

mangialibri published on Thu, 16 Feb 2012

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66 Reviews

5 people find this helpful

Due to personal reason, I re-read it in 2006. Still capture the very nature of totalitarianism and the claims come to its truest moment ever in history. Striking, stunning, we should bear this masterpiece in mind as the surveillance it has mentioned become much easier with the help of foreign techno ... (continue)

Due to personal reason, I re-read it in 2006. Still capture the very nature of totalitarianism and the claims come to its truest moment ever in history. Striking, stunning, we should bear this masterpiece in mind as the surveillance it has mentioned become much easier with the help of foreign technology. And for the ruling power -- it's all about capitalism, you know.

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張小張・Cons said on Dec 19, 2006 about the Paperback edition | 2 feedbacks

3 people find this helpful

1984 is not a prophecy (I do believe and hope) but a representation of what hunger for power and lies can do when brought to their extremes.
Orwell's dystopia is fascinating because most of it is a picture - though an impossibly excessive one - of what world and politics really are.

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Simbul said on Jan 21, 2008 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

2 people find this helpful

• I believe that 1984 is so scary because it identifies some aspects of power that can be found not only in the Stalinist dictatorship in which Orwell was inspired, but also in our democracy, such as the relationship between power and communication tools (TV, radio, newspapers), or power, and histor ... (continue)

• I believe that 1984 is so scary because it identifies some aspects of power that can be found not only in the Stalinist dictatorship in which Orwell was inspired, but also in our democracy, such as the relationship between power and communication tools (TV, radio, newspapers), or power, and history (Kundera wrote in one of his novels that the powerful take control over the rooms where the story is written to control the future). This is a common practice to all dictatorships: the textbooks, especially, are altered depending on what suits the ruling class.

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Cappuccino 92 said on Apr 6, 2011 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

1984 opens up three interesting philosophical points of view. One, it suggests, through Winston vs. the rest of the world, that insanity is merely a subjective view. "Insanity is simply a minority of one." I never thought of it that way.
Two, 1984 draws a link between freedom and speech, through th ... (continue)

1984 opens up three interesting philosophical points of view. One, it suggests, through Winston vs. the rest of the world, that insanity is merely a subjective view. "Insanity is simply a minority of one." I never thought of it that way.
Two, 1984 draws a link between freedom and speech, through the example of Thoughtcrime being limited by Newspeak. The less words are available, the less complex thoughts are available. That's a scary thought, suggesting that the government could control us just by controlling our vocabulary.
Three, 1984 suggests that by natural instinct, we are possible of judging right from wrong. “Why should one feel it to be intolerable unless one had some kind of ancestral memory that things had once been different?” Winston asks. That is a good question.
Other parts of the plot weren't that revelational to me. [Plot Spoiler] Winston and Julia eventually betraying each other was nothing new--yes people can easily give up their morals under the instinct of pain and fear. Also, I'm not sure what the significance of the climax was, when Winston finally loved Big Brother.

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Snowtiger327 said on May 25, 2012 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

Un libro muy interesante que te invita a reflexionar sobre la sociedad en la que vivimos. No obstante, se hace bastante denso, con parrafadas que ocupan páginas y páginas, y los personajes me han resultado un poco planos.

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Azahara said on May 24, 2012 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

Too much can be said about 1984, so I'll just focus on one aspect that pervades the whole novel: dehumanization.
All the extreme measures taken by the regime to subjugate its citizens (Newspeak, Thought Police, Two Minute Hate, Doublethink, etc.) ultimately have only one goal: to gain tota ... (continue)

Too much can be said about 1984, so I'll just focus on one aspect that pervades the whole novel: dehumanization.
All the extreme measures taken by the regime to subjugate its citizens (Newspeak, Thought Police, Two Minute Hate, Doublethink, etc.) ultimately have only one goal: to gain total control of every individual. And the only way to achieve this aim is to completely strip away every shred of humanity in people, such as love, pride, independent thought, and other inner capabilities. Every strength is quashed. Every decency is denied. Every positive quality is condemned. As a result, as we can see in Winston Smith, no trace of humanity remains after being thoroughly battered and brainwashed. Utopia is achieved - for the totalitarian regime.
George Orwell paints a truly horrible picture of absolute power gone extreme. But even more horrible is the fact that it is true after all; just look at North Korea. That is why I chose to re-read 1984 right after finishing Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick. I can only say this: I'm glad that North Korea is not rich or powerful enough to prevent its Winston Smiths from occasionally defecting.

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Holmes said on May 23, 2012 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback