George Orwell's dystopian masterpiece,
Nineteen Eighty-Four is perhaps the most
pervasively influential book of the twentieth century,
making famous Big Brother, newspeak and Room
101. 'Who controls the past controls the future: who
controls the present controls the past' Hidden away
in the Record Department of the sprawling Ministry of
Truth, Winston Smith skilfully rewrites the past to suit
the needs of the Party. Yet he inwardly rebels against
the totalitarian world he lives in, which demands
absolute obedience and controls him through the
all-seeing telescreens and the watchful eye of Big
Brother, symbolic head of the Party. In his longing for
truth and liberty, Smith begins a secret love affair
with a fellow-worker Julia, but soon discovers the true
price of freedom is betrayal. Eric Arthur Blair
(1[zasłonięte]903-19), better known by his pen-name, George
Orwell, was born in India, where his father worked for
the Civil Service. An author and journalist, Orwell was
one of the most prominent and influential figures in
twentieth-century literature. His unique political
allegory Animal Farm was published in 1945, and
it was this novel, together with the dystopia of
Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), which brought him
world-wide fame. All his novels and non-fiction,
including Burmese Days (1934), Down and Out in
Paris and London (1933), The Road to Wigan
Pier (1937) and Homage to Catalonia (1938)
are published in Penguin Modern Classics. If you
enjoyed Nineteen Eighty-Four, you might like
Orwell's Animal Farm, also available in Penguin
Great Orwell. 'His final masterpiece ... enthralling
and indispensible for understanding modern
history' Timothy Garton-Ash, New York
Review of Books
'The book of the
twentieth century ... haunts us with an ever-darker
relevance' Independent
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