Author Description

ABOUT THE BOOK Few novels have influenced the way generations of readers shaped their understanding of society as much as George Orwell’s 1984, or added as many terms to the English lexicon: Big Brother, doublethink, Room 101, and thoughtcrime, to name a few. Even the term “Orwellian” invokes an immediate sense of caution against a repressive totalitarian regime who monitors our every move and manipulates the masses for its own gain. Published by British publisher Secker and Warburg in 1949, only one year before the author’s death, 1984 is one of the most popular English novels of all time and has been translated into over 65 languages. In 2005, Time Magazine listed 1984 as one of the best English-language novels since 1923. According to banned-books.org.uk, the novel was banned in the USSR for its criticisms of Stalin’s regime. It was also banned in Florida for its communist and sexual content. EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK For the first time in the novel, Winston is not alone. Chapter 3 The next time Winston and Julia meet is a couple weeks later in a belfry of a deserted church. Winston discovers that Julia is 26, works in the Fiction Department at the Ministry of Truth (at one point she even worked on Porncsec, creating cheap porn for Proles), lost her virginity at 16, and hates the Party, in a kind of superficial, rebellious-youth kind of way. In turn, Winston tells Julia about his wife Katharine, how she made sex unbearable, and how on one occasion, he was tempted to kill her by pushing her over a cliff. When Julia asks him if he regretted not doing it, Winston tells her it doesn’t make a difference. He says, “In this game we’re playing, we can’t win.” Julia is annoyed by Winston’s fatalist attitude, dismisses his talk about dying and makes plans to meet again. — In chapter 3, two important distinctions are made between Winston’s deep-rooted rebellion against the Party, and Ju