60 years after Orwell wrote 1984 and was destroyed by the book, a chilling reminder that his sinister vision is almost reality

Nineteen Eighty-Four was published in London on Wednesday, June 8, 1949, and in New York five days later. The world was eager for it.

Within 12 months, it had sold around 50,000 hardbacks in the UK; in the U.S. sales were more than one-third of a million. It became a phenomenon.

Sixty years later, no one can say how many millions of copies are in print, both in legitimate editions and samizdat versions. It has been adapted for radio, stage, television and cinema, has been studied, copied and parodied and, above all, ransacked for its ideas and images.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1192484/60-years-Orwell-wrote-1984-destroyed-book-chilling-reminder-sinister-vision-reality.html#ixzz0sE3JrBWq

1984 resources

This post is for Year 12 students studying 1984. Check out my scholarship@kkc blog for resources on the novel. Try this link to get to them.

Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four

I have suggested that in order to fully understand Nineteen Eighty-Four, it is important that you read Orwell’s Animal Farm. The book was published in 1944, towards the end of World War II. Orwell’s criticism of Russian communism, especially of the Soviet leader, Joseph Stalin (who was represented as the pig Napoleon) made it hard for Orwell to find anyone who would publish his book.

As some of you who have read Animal Farm have discovered, the central themes of Nineteen Eighty-Four are present in the earlier novel. An obvious one is the oppression of the majority of the people by a corrupt ruling elite who want power for its own sake. We also see the alteration of history and the manipulation of language as tools of social control. The major difference comes in the tone as the writing in Animal Farm is lighter in touch but Nineteen Eighty-Four is completely overlaid with a sense of darkness and doom.

Nineteen Eighty-Four Seems Like Yesterday

Here is a link to an interesting article by Ian Hunter about the relevance of some of the novel’s concepts today. Here is a little:

The most influential English author of the 20th century may well have been Eric Arthur Blair, a.k.a. George Orwell, the subject of Jeffrey Meyers’s fascinating biography, Orwell: Wintry Conscience of a Generation. This is the kind of book that forces one to evaluate its subject afresh; Mr. Meyers manages to separate Orwell the man from Orwell the legend, while allowing the reader to trace the development of both. Given what had already been written about Orwell, it is a tribute that nearly every page contains some fresh revelation about Orwell’s life or some new insight into the significance of his work.

Orwell’s most influential novels (Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four) were sometimes dismissed by critics as Cold War polemics but it is fascinating how they yield fresh insight into, say, the war in Afghanistan.

Each time I hear terms such as “collateral damage” or “holy war,” I recall the Ministry of Information in Oceania.

Propaganda

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has a page that explores the Nazis’ sophisticated propaganda campaigns and their legacy. Propaganda is biased information designed to shape public opinion and behaviour. The site has a timeline of events and a fascinating gallery of propaganda posters and other images. The exhibit also explores the themes associated with the propaganda.

The museum looks at how intense public desire for charismatic leaders offers fertile ground for the use of propaganda. Through a carefully orchestrated public image of Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler, during the politically unstable Weimar period the Nazis exploited this yearning to consolidate power and foster national unity. Nazi propaganda facilitated the rapid rise of the Nazi Party to political prominence. Election campaign materials from the 1920s and early 1930s, compelling visual materials, and controlled public appearances coalesced to create a “cult of the Führer” (leader) around Hitler. His fame grew via speeches at rallies, parades, and on the radio. Nazi propagandists cast Hitler as a military leader, a father figure, and a messianic leader brought to redeem Germany.

You will find the exhibit here.