George Orwell's 1984



The Muffin Man said:
So just finished reading this tonight. Anybody else read it, did it disturb you how close to the way life is it was. Utterly incredible read.

Written in 1949 was it a commentary on what had just happened or what he foresaw happening? While we don't have the "Tele screen" in your house monitoring everything you do, for most people literally everything you do is or can be traced through the internet and electronically. And there has actually been a scandal about peoples conversations been recorded by their TVs and the contents passed on to third parties.

The average person in the UK is filmed on CCTV 150 odd times a day, if you show "radical" thought in school then teachers must report you to the authorities, is this not a sign of thought control?
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read in Uni 20 odd years back or more.

Must give it another read now comparing with current society.

what gets me btw is mobiles, and peoples addictions to them, not sure if Orwell predicted that, will read again.
 
I thought he wrote it in 48 not 49 and he switched the end two numbers to give him 1984. At least that's whay my O'level English lit teacher said, but she didn't like me so might have lied
 
If things had worked out differently we might have had "1984 the Musical" by Bowie , but the Orwell estate refused permission .

We got the Diamond Dogs album with some of the songs intended for the show instead .
 
Orwell was very much writing about the perils of totalitarianism he saw in his own time. A lot of what he predicted didn't come true (the essay about Huxley Vs Orwell upthread is excellent btw) but one might argue that this is because people heeded his warning.

As a writer he was absolutely wonderful. Concise, observant, impactful. A lot like Graham Greene.
 
I can honestly say that 1984 is my favourite book ever. When I die, I want to be buried with it in my hands so I can read it in the afterlife as well.
 
Good book, important topic, brilliant author.

Unfortunately 1984 is one of those books that ten bob intellectuals love to reference.
 
FootballFan said:
read in Uni 20 odd years back or more.

Must give it another read now comparing with current society.

what gets me btw is mobiles, and peoples addictions to them, not sure if Orwell predicted that, will read again.
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Didnt predict that but certainly with things like location services logging everywhere you are Big Brother would be proud of mobile phone technology.
 

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