1984 depicts a society where Big Brother manipulates information and language to control people. The novel remains relevant today, challenging the status quo and encouraging critical thinking.
There is very little about the book — although this very little is quite important — that is prophetic. At least three-quarters of what Orwell narrates is not negative utopia, but history.
Il terribile libro di Orwell ha segnato il nostro tempo, gli ha fornito una immagine ossessiva, la minaccia di un millennio assai prossimo, e dicendo “quel giorno verrà …” ci ha impegnato tutti nell’attesa di quel giorno.
Written in 1948, 1984 was George Orwell’s chilling prophecy about the future. And while 1984 has come and gone, Orwell’s narrative is timelier than ever.
Having soothed themselves with these comfortable falsehoods, people proceeded on their way to make Orwell’s prognostications come true. Bit by bit, and step by step, the world has been marching toward the realization of Orwell’s nightmares; but because the march has been gradual, people have not realized how far it has taken them on this fatal road.
Introduction to the official 60th anniversary edition of Nineteen Eighty-Four
George Orwell: 1984 – Introduzione, antologia critica e bibliografia a cura di Aldo Chiaruttini. Oscar Mondatori, Dicembre 1983
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