Read 1984

2 Comments

1. 

   Jeffersonian Democrat on October 18, 2006 at 5:00 pm

   Good as a novel.  But if you really want to understand the dynamics of this stuff in our own world, may I suggest two works by Hannah Arendt.

   -The Origins of Totalitarianism
   -The Banality of Evil

   Hannah Arendt was a German Jew who escaped.  Her dissertation advisor was the philosopher Karl Jaspers and had a fling or a marraige, can’t remember which off the top of my head, with Heidegger.  He was critizised for his involvement in the Nazi Party.  Anyway, her works are a real eye opener.

2. 

   blueneck on October 19, 2006 at 12:02 am

   Also, the precursor to all such works is “We” by Yevgeny Zamyatin, written in 1920 and first published in 1924.

   Link to review

   This novel has served as the inspiration for what has become, if not a genre, then at the very least a dominant sub-genre of science fiction. It is the first major dystopian novel, a precursor to George Orwell’s 1984, Aldus Huxley’s Brave New World, and Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, and its history, along with that of its author, eerily mimics some of the themes of those other books.

   Link to review.

   We is essential reading for two reasons: the book understands totalitarianism and calls it for what it is; and the book underpins many important themes that followed in science fiction. Reading We is a strange and disorienting experience at times, but well worth the trouble.