January 2012 Guest Editor Simon Lelic selects Nineteen Eighty-Four...
Not exactly an original pick, I realise, and some (irrationally, in my mind) would dispute its literary merits. On the other hand, it has proved almost Shakespearean in its impact on the English psyche – and certainly on mine. I read it first for GCSE English, and I still have the copy I should probably have returned to my teacher at the end of the school year. Which makes me worry now that perhaps I have deprived someone else of the pleasure. I’m including it here as penance, but also because I couldn’t not.
The Lovereading view...
Chosen by the public through a survey to coincide with the 10th birthday celebrations of World Book Day 2007, this title is one of ‘the ten books the nation can’t live without’. Have you read them all? Below are links to each title and position on the list.
1. Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen
2. The Lord of the Rings JRR Tolkien
3. Jane Eyre Charlotte Brontë
4. Harry Potter JK Rowling
5. To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee
6. The Bible
7. Wuthering Heights Emily Brontë
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four George Orwell
9. His Dark Materials Philip Pullman
10. Great Expectations Charles Dickens
| Primary Genre | Dystopian and utopian fiction |
| Other Genres: |
George Orwell's masterwork, now in the Penguin Clothbound Classics series with a cover designed by Coralie Bickford-Smith One of the BBC's '100 Novels that Shaped the World' '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.
George Orwell's dystopian masterpiece, Nineteen Eighty-Four is perhaps the most pervasively influential book of the twentieth century.
Nineteen Eighty-Four features in the following genres: Dystopian and utopian fiction, Classic fiction: general and literary, Gift Books, Narrative theme: Politics, Speculative fiction, Fiction, General Fiction, Stationery and miscellaneous items, Lifestyle, Hobbies and Leisure, Fiction: narrative themes
Nineteen Eighty-Four is available in Hardback, Paperback, Ebook, CD-Audio, Paperback (b Format)
Nineteen Eighty-Four was written by George Orwell and published by Penguin Books Ltd
Nineteen Eighty-Four has 325 pages
Yes it is part of Penguin Essentials series
£8.09
