1. 1984

2. Facts
Published in 1949
Published in sixty-five languages and millions of copies sold
#13 on Modern Library’s list of 100 Best Novels

3. Written and rewritten several times by Orwell
The title alternated between 1984 and The Last Man in Europe.
Orwell suffered and almost died of tuberculosis while writing the book.

4. Setting Time: I’ll give you three guesses…
Place: London, Airstrip One, Oceania

5. Characters
Winston Smith: 39, protagonist, a member of the Outer Party who works as a records editor for the Ministry of Truth
Julia: 26, works in the Fiction Department of the Ministry of Truth, member of the Junior Anti-Sex League

6. Big Brother: the benevolent dictator who rules Oceania, the voice of the Party
Emmanuel Goldstein: a former Party member who now leads the anti-Party movement, the Brotherhood
O’Brien: a member of the Inner Party and possibly the Brotherhood

7. Themes Nationalism Censorship Surveillance
Positive: extreme love for one’s country
Negative: extreme hatred for other countries
Transferred: immediate transfer of nationalism from one country to another
Censorship
Surveillance
The use of language to control thought

8. The dangers of totalitarianism
The role of technology in enabling oppressive governments to monitor and control their citizens
Psychological manipulation and physical control
Control of information and history

9. Neologisms from 1984 Orwellian Big Brother (is watching you.) Room 101
Thought Police
Thought Crime
Newspeak
Doublethink

10. George Orwell 1903-1950 Real name: Eric Arthur Blair Born in India
Attended Eton College as a scholarship student
Was taught French by Aldous Huxley
Worked as an imperial policeman in Burma but later felt guilty for his role in furthering the oppression of the British Empire
Fought in the Spanish Civil War “to fight against Fascism” and was wounded

11. Inspired by current events: He was “convinced that Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt consciously plotted to divide the world” into spheres of influence at the Tehran Conference of 1944.
Fascinated by the relationship between morality and language
Died in 1950 after a long battle with tuberculosis

13. Praise for 1984
"I do not think I have ever read a novel more frightening and depressing; and yet, such are the originality, the suspense, the speed of writing and withering indignation that it is impossible to put the book down.”
Review: V. S. Pritchett, New Statesman

15. McCrum, Robert. “1984: The Masterpiece That Killed George Orwell
McCrum, Robert. “1984: The Masterpiece That Killed George Orwell.” TheGuardian.com. The Guardian, 10 May Web. 31 March

16. "One could not have a better example of the moral and emotional shallowness of our time, than the fact that we are now all more or less pro Stalin. This disgusting murderer is temporarily on our side, and so the purges, etc., are suddenly forgotten."
— George Orwell, in his war-time diary, 3 July 1941