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1984

(Centennial Edition)

By George Orwell, Fromm Erich (Editor), Thomas Pynchon (Editor), Eric Arthur Blair (Editor)

(2474)

| Paperback | 9780452284234

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Book Description

The new novel by George Orwell is the major work towards which all his previous writing has pointed. Critics have hailed it as his "most solid, most brilliant" work. Though the story of Nineteen Eighty-Four takes place thirty-five years hence, it is in every sense timely. The scene is Continue

The new novel by George Orwell is the major work towards which all his previous writing has pointed. Critics have hailed it as his "most solid, most brilliant" work. Though the story of Nineteen Eighty-Four takes place thirty-five years hence, it is in every sense timely. The scene is London, where there hsa been no new housing since 1950 and where the city-wide slums are called Victory Mansions. Science has abandoned Man for the State. As every citizen knows only too well, war is piece.

To Winston Smith, a young man who works in the Ministry of Truth (Minitru for short), come two people who transform his life completely. One is Julia, whom he meets after she hands him a slip reading, "I love you". The other is O'Brien, who tells him, "We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness". The way in which Winston is betrayed by the one and, against his own desideres and instincs, ultimately betrays the other, makes a story of mounting drama and suspense.

Aside from its high literaly qualities, Nineteen Eighty-Four has profund implications for our times. It points the path towards which society may now be heading, and leaves the reader with the shocked feeling that there is no single horrible feature in the world of 1984 - only two generations away - which is not present, in embryo, today. In the final section of the novel George Orwell spells out, for the first time in literature, how the spirit of every man living may be broken in Room 101, and how he can be made to avow - and believe - that black si white, two plus two equals five, and evil is good.

When George Orwell's Animal Farm was published three years ago, critics compared him to Jonathan Swift. Nineteen Eighty-Four justifies their virdict. This distinguished novel will be remembered as one of the most important and moving works of fiction to be published in this generation.

Critics

  • 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

65 Reviews

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  • 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | Add your feedback

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