Nineteen Eighty-Four

The tenth book in the RUSC Literary Challenge was written by perhaps, the most influential writer in the last century. In fact, some of the terms he coined such as big brother, cold war, thought police, room 101, are all now a part of the English language because of him.

The author I speak of is, of course, George Orwell, and he wrote the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984) in 1949. 

I'm sure you noticed the date there? 1949! Already well into the golden era of radio, I think it goes some way to showing how immediate the critical and popular acclaim was for the novel - with NBC University Theater broadcasting their own adaptation of the book the same year that it was published!

The name George Orwell is actually a pseudonym for Eric Arthur Blair, and his life was, in my opinion, absolutely fascinating - albeit incredibly strange. Much like his novels I guess...

After receiving advice early in his career to write his novels using his own experiences, that's ultimately what he did - but these weren't experiences which just 'happened' to him. These were experiences that he 'made' happen. 

In fact, to make sure his experiences were true to life, he put himself right in the thick of it, deciding that to enable him to write about those less fortunate, he would discover for himself the world of poverty, by venturing into the East End of London, and then Paris, dressing as a tramp.

The story Nineteen Eighty-Four is, in a nutshell, pretty strange to say the least! It is the tale of a dystopian society in the future, where everyone is being watched, individualism is persecuted, and the country has been transformed into a totalitarian state.

The adaptation from the Theater Guild on the Air begins on a bright, cold, April day in the year 1984, and the clocks are striking 13. The new way of telling the time of day is the least of the changes in the world. Following a period of war and revolution, the world has been divided into three super dictatorships; Oceania, Eurasia and East Asia, and all three have the same objective - to conquer the rest of the world, and remake human existence according to their theories and formulas.

After the recent World Wars I and II, the terror of communism or totalitarian domination in any form meant that the novel resonated with readers worldwide. In fiction, George Orwell created a picture of what the world could have been like should the totalitarian forces succeed with their plan to become the Earth's masters. 

Happy listening my friends,

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