1984

What can be written about this book that hasn’t already been said? Orwell’s dystopian vision of a possible future is both astonishing and depressing. 1984 creates a fantasy world that is utterly convincing from beginning to end. With its provocative premise and surprisingly accurate predictions of a future world where totalitarianism reigns supreme, George Orwell’s story of Winston Smith’s struggle against the almighty was first published in 1949 and its relevance is as timely as it was then. Many have read this book in their youth. Revisiting the text many years later, they will find that Orwell’s words seem strangely even more relevant than they were at first glance. Perhaps even more so than they were when they were first printed and engraved on paper all those years ago. The language of 1984 has passed into the English language as a symbol of the horrors of totalitarianism. It is a novel that seems limitless in subtle remarks and reference points that echo through its pages. No one can doubt its influence on the imagination of generations or the power of its exhortations – a power that seems to grow, not diminish, with the passage of time.