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"Nineteen Eighty-Four (1 9 8 4)"
1949 Novel & Movies Page
 | synopsis & history |  |
“Who controls the present controls the past. Who controls the past controls the future.”
(in the 1949 novel "Nineteen Eighty-Four")
“In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”
“If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.”
“The great enemy of clear language is insincerity.”
"You can't really write a '1984' for our times, because '1984' is still the '1984' of our times."
— Lev Grossman, TIME Magazine critic, October 2013
1949 June 8: Publication of George Orwell's classic novel "1984"
sales of Orwell's '1984' increased as details of the N.S.A. scandal emerged (per ABC News, June 2013)
Following Trump White House advisor Kellyanne Conway's insistence that 'alternative facts' were a real thing, sales of George Orwell's 1949 novel "Nineteen Eighty-Four" shot up 9,500%, quickly becoming an international best-seller on Amazon.
The Book
"Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984): A Novel"
by George Orwell [1903-50]
published by Secker & Warburg, London on 8 June 1949
novel entry at Wikipedia
Listed #6 on Modern Library's 1998 Reader Poll for the best novels published in the English language since 1900.
Winston Smith endures a squalid existence as a clerk in a bureaucracy of the totalitarian superstate of Oceania,
where everyone is under the constant surveillance of the Thought Police.
![Nineteen Eighty-Four 1949 novel by George Orwell [1903-50]](covers/GOrwell1984.jpg)
"Nineteen Eighty-Four: The Facsimile Manuscript" [Secker and Warburg, 1984] Edited by Peter Davison ISBN 0-436-35022-X
http://www.amazon.com/1984-Japanese-George-Orwell/dp/4151200533/
http://www.amazon.com/Nineteen-Eighty-Four-Text-mit-Materialien/dp/3125739136/
"Nineteen Eighty-Four" Centennial Edition [Plume 2003] ISBN 0-452-28423-6
Foreword by Thomas Pynchon, Afterword by Erich Fromm
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History, Sequels & Criticism
"We" by Yevgeny Zamyatin [1921]
The grandfather of the modern dystopian novel and the inspiration for "1984" describes a future society, under the rule of The Benefactor, whose every moment
is accounted for. All characters are numbers, and everything from when they sleep to who they sleep with is mapped out by OneState. Yet, one man begins to question
all that he believes, due to a chance encounter with a unique and frustrating woman.
"George Orwell and The Origins of 1984" [Univ Michigan Press 1975] by William R. Steinhoff ISBN 0-472-87400-4
"Who's Afraid of 1984?: The Case For Optimism In Looking Ahead To The 1980s" [Arlington House Publrs 1975]
by Jerome Tuccille ISBN 0-87000-308-9
"1985: A Novel" [1978] by Anthony Burgess
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985_(Anthony_Burgess_novel)
"Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four: Text, Sources, Criticism" [Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1982]
by Irving Howe ISBN 0-15-565811-5
"1985: What Happens After Big Brother Dies" sequel novel [1983] by György Dalos
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985_(Gy%C3%B6rgy_Dalos_novel)
ISBN 978-0-394-53780-1
"Nineteen Eighty-Four in 1984: Autonomy, Control, and Communication" [Comedia Pub. Group, London 1983]
Edited by Crispin Aubrey & Paul Chilton ISBN 0-906890-42-X
"1984 Revisited: Totalitarianism in Our Century" [Harper & Row 1983] Edited by Irving Howe ISBN 0-06-080660-5
"The Larger Evils – Nineteen Eighty-Four: The Truth Behind The Satire"
[Canongate Press 1992] by W.J. West ISBN 0-86241-382-6
 | "1984 George Orwell Book Analysis: Reading The Novel In Post-Trump Context" [essay 2019] by Shafqat Mushtaq 38-page Kindle Edition from Kashmir Stag Imprints [2/2019] for $3.00 41-page indep 8x5 pb [6/2019] for $8.00 |
essay by staff writer Louis Menand in the 8 June 2019 issue of The New Yorker Magazine
read the full article at The New Yorker website
 | "The Ministry of Truth: The Biography of George Orwell's 1984" [2019] by Dorian Lynskey Kindle Edition from Doubleday/Random House [6/2019] for $14.99 Doubleday 9½x6½ hardcover [6/2019] for $19.57 |
 | "If George Orwell Were Alive Today: On Nineteen Eighty-Four and The Thrust of Orwellian Satire" [2019] brochure/essay by John Dale considers what "Nineteen Eighty-Four" would be like if it were written today, in an age of Islamist terror, fake news, and post-truth politics 36-page Kindle Edition from Australian Scholarly Publng [8/2019] for $7.56 52-page Arden mass pb [7/2020] for $7.02 |
The Author
Eric Arthur Blair was born in British India in 1903; he adopted the pen name 'George Orwell' in 1933, and is most famous for "Animal Farm"
[1945 novel] and "Nineteen Eighty-Four" [1949 novel]; Blair/Orwell died of tuberculosis in London, England in January 1950 at age 46.
Spirit of America Bookstore's
George Orwell [1903-50] Page
George Orwell Quotations Page at Working Minds Philosophy website
 | "The Last Man In Europe: A Novel" [2017] by Dennis Glover Suffering from the tuberculosis that would kill him just three years later, George Orwell retreated to a run-down farmhouse on a remote Scottish island to write the book that would become his magnum opus, "1984' Kindle Edition from Overlook Press [11/2017] for $12.29 Harry N. Abrams 8x5½ pb [11/2018] for $16.95 Harry N. Abrams 9¼x6¼ hardcover [11/2017] for $20.37 |
Movies, Stageplays, Other Media
graphic version of "1984" [started in 2004] with early chapters online
±
"1984" radio program [1949]
broadcast on N.B.C. University Theater, with David Niven as Winston Smith
"1984: George Orwell's Big Brother" [N.B.C. Radio broadcast 26 April 1953]
http://www.archive.org/download/TheaterGuildontheAir/Tgoa_53-04-26_ep150-1984.mp3
episode of "The United States Steel Hour" starring Richard Widmark
http://www.amazon.com/George-Orwells-Brother-United-States/dp/B003ZFOZDK/
"1984" [B.B.C. Radio 4/2013]
2-part radio adaptation by Jonathan Holloway, with Christopher Eccleston, Pippa Nixon & Tim Pigott-Smith
"Studio One: 1984" [CBS-TV Sept 1953]
 | In a totalitarian future society, Winston Smith, whose daily work is re-writing history, tries to rebel by falling in love. Directed by Paul Nickell; written for television by William Templeton; narrated by Don Hollenbeck; starring Eddie Albert {as Winston Smith}, Lorne Greene {as O'Brien}, Norma Crane {as Julia}, Peter Ostroff {as Syme}, Noel Leslie, Truman Smith, Robert Culp {as telescreen voice}, Midge Donaldson {as telescreen voice}, Victor Thorley, Janice Mars, Susan Hallaran, Fred J. Scollay, Vincent Van Lynn, Paul Brinson {as series announcer}, Betty Furness {as series spokeswoman} VHS/DVD/Blu-ray not available • full credits at IMDb • episode entry at Wikipedia watch full TV movie [6/2016 upload; 51:10] online at YouTube |
"1 9 8 4: Life In The Future" British TV programme [B.B.C. Dec 1954]
 | 107-minute b&w 1954 B.B.C. Sunday-Night Theatre live broadcast as "1984: The Last Man In Europe"; a second perform-ance was captured on kinescope; re-broadcast in 1977, on BBC2-TV in 1994, and on BBC4-TV in 2003 • Produced & directed by Rudolph Cartier; adapted by Nigel Kneale; narrated by Richard Williams; starring Peter Cushing {as Winston Smith}, Donald Pleasence {as Syme}, Roy Oxley {as Big Brother}, André Morell, Yvonne Mitchell, Arnold Diamond, Campbell Gray, Hilda Fenemore, Pamela Grant, Keith Davis, Janet Barrow, Norman Osborne, Tony Lyons, Malcolm Knight, John Baker, Victor Platt, Van Boolen, Wilfrid Brambell, Leonard Sachs, Sydney Bromley, Janet Joye, Harry Lane
P.R. Studios b&w DVD [4/2009] for $15.99 also available on the "1984" Double Feature DVD just below full credits at IMDb • movie entry at Wikipedia watch full movie [9/2014 upload; 1:47:30] online at YouTube |
"Nineteen Eighty-Four" [live performance 2013]
 | Based on the 1954 BBC-TV teleplay; live preview performance at The Horse Hospital venue in Bloomsbury, London by Polish sound artist & composer Zbigniew Karkowski [1958-2013] in October 2013; details are unclear: described as a 'screening' while also as 'based on the 1954 teleplay'; if they showed the 1954 kinescope, it would need to be silent to hear Karkowski's music; here's a clue from other RealityFilm events: "a soundscaped bilingual track intermixed with the sampled dialogue and effects of the original film" — conclusion: three-element event - silent film on screen, remixed original soundtrack, live orchestra performance •
Produced by Marek Pytel for Realityfilm [est. 2000]
DVD/Blu-ray not available • not listed at IMDb • details absent from ZK's Wikipedia page |
"1 9 8 4" feature film [Columbia Pictures March 1956]
 | Love is outlawed in a futuristic, totalitarian future controlled by 'Big Brother'; employee of the state Winston Smith, whose daily work is re-writing history, tries to rebel by falling in love, and is tortured and brainwashed for his crime. Co-produced by N. Peter Rathvon; co-produced & co-written by Ralph Gilbert Bettison; directed by Michael Anderson; co-written by William Templeton; starring Edmond O'Brien {as Winston Smith}, Michael Redgrave {as O'Connor}, Jan Sterling {as Julia}, David Kossoff, Mervyn Johns, Donald Pleasence, Carol Wolveridge, Ernest Clark, Patrick Allen, Ronan O'Casey, Michael Ripper, Ewen Solon, Kenneth Griffith, Anthony Jacobs {as the telescreen voice} Nostalgia Family Video b&w DVD-R [7/2015] for $5.99 poor quality b&w DVD-R [1/2010] for $14.99 also available on the "1984" Double Feature DVD just below full credits at IMDb • movie entry at Wikipedia |
 | "1984" Double Feature: B.B.C. 1954 and Columbia Pictures 1956 versions [2015] contains 1954 B.B.C. b&w live broadcast starring Peter Cushing and Donald Pleasence, and the Columbia Pictures 1956 b&w feature film starring Edmond O'Brien & Michael Redgrave A2ZCDs b&w DVD-R [11/2015] for $9.95 |
"1 9 8 4" [Virgin Films Oct 1984]
  | Written & directed by Michael Radford, based on Orwell's novel; starring John Hurt, Richard Burton {final film}, Suzanna Hamilton, Cyril Cusack, Gregor Fisher & James Walker
M.G.M. Home Video Blu-ray color [undated] for $38.95 M.G.M. Home Video Region 1? French-language color Blu-ray [undated] out of prodn/used imported Region 1 widescreen color DVD [12/2012] for $15.52 M.G.M. Video widescreen color DVD [3/2003] out of prodn/many used Polygram Video color VHS [2/97] out of prodn/used E.M.I. Import soundtrack CD [12/84] 9 tracks on 2 disks for $10.98 full credits at IMDb • movie entry at Wikipedia watch official trailer [3/2011 upload; 2:59] online at YouTube |
"Four Episodes From 1984" [indep July 1985] /tt3437568/
29-minute short, eight scenes from an original screenplay written & directed by Marshall Peterson
"1 9 8 4" [Imagine/Universal in development?]
Announced 6/2012: Imagine Entertainment assigned the adaptation of George Orwell’s dystopian classic
"Nineteen Eighty-Four" to producer-writer Noah Oppenheim • latest info at IMDb
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"Diamond Dogs" [1974] concept album by David Bowie
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond_Dogs
"1984" solo concept album [1981] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_(Rick_Wakeman_album)
"1984" concept album [1981] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_(Anthony_Phillips_album)
"1984" concept album [1984] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_(Van_Halen_album)
"1984 (For The Love of Big Brother)" [1984] by The Eurythmics
Side 1: I Did it Just the Same; Sexcrime (Nineteen Eighty-Four); For the Love of Big Brother; Winston's Diary;
Greetings From a Dead Man. Side 2: Julia; Doubleplusgood; Ministry of Love; Room 101
http://www.amazon.com/1984-Love-Big-Brother-Eurythmics/dp/B00145CKFS/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_(For_the_Love_of_Big_Brother)
® ®
"1984: The Opera" [2005]
official website • Wikipedia
http://www.1984theopera.com/
http://www.amazon.com/Lorin-Maazel-Royal-Opera-House/dp/B0015FMKZM/
"1984" (Oberon Modern Plays) by Matthew Dunster and George Orwell (Aug 28, 2012)
http://www.amazon.com/Oberon-Modern-Plays-Matthew-Dunster/dp/1849432260/
® ®
"1984 by George Orwell" stageplay
  | "A new [2013] adaptation created by Robert Icke and Duncan Macmillan", in conjunction with Nottingham Playhouse and Headlong Theatre Company; performed at West End’s Playhouse Theatre, London UK in April & May 2014; performed at York's Theatre Royal [est. 1744] in September 2014
Kindle Edition from Oberon Modern Plays [10/2013] for $9.99 Oberon Modern Plays 8x5 pb [9/2014] for $14.53 |
 | U.S. debut performance by the British company in Jan-Feb 2016 at The Eli & Edythe Broad Stage [est. 2008] at Santa Monica College in California |
| A 'new staging' of the play co-written and co-directed by Robert Icke and Duncan Macmillan; again starring Tom Sturridge as Winston Smith; also starring Olivia Wilde {Broadway debut} as his illegal love interest Julia & Reed Birney as O'Brien; previews in London were shocking, 38 previews on Broadway, official opening at Broadway’s Hudson Theatre in June 2017. The play was revised 'to reflect the times' (i.e. Trump & the reality of fascism in America) and several scenes of torture are loudly amped with strobe lighting and horrific sound effects, such that London audience members regularly fainted and screamed and even vomited. (The producers were mock-surprised that audience members did not believe the prominent 'trigger warnings' in the theater lobby and in the paper program handouts.) The show ran for 125 performances, from June to October in 2017; it won a minor Tony Award and two minor Drama Desk Awards.
credits at Internet Broadway Database • official website |
"1984: The Ballet" [2015]
 | The Northern Ballet Company of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England commissioned a ballet based on Orwell's "1984" from choreographer Jonathan Watkins; the ballet was filmed for television and online streaming by The Space and was broadcast on BBC Four in February 2016 • Directed by Ross MacGibbon; music by Alex Baranowski; sets & costume designs by Simon Daw; starring dancers Tobias Batley, Martha Leebolt, Hironao Takahashi, Javier Torres
Opus Arte color Blu-ray [5/2018] for $28.41 Opus Arte color DVD [5/2018] for $21.99 full credits at IMDb • official movie website watch 7/2015 Northern Ballet promo [0:36] online at YouTube watch 3/2016 Sadler's Wells promo [0:53] online at YouTube |
¨ ¨
 | "On 1984: Quotes For The Orwellian Future Happening Today" [2017] Edited by James Daley America is drastically divided and starting to resemble George Orwell’s portrayal of a totalitarian state in his iconic novel "1984"; the editor has selected hundreds of alarmingly relevant quotes by notable people of the past and present, including Martin Luther King Jr., Abraham Lincoln, Che Guevara, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump, and George Orwell himself. Racehorse Publng 7¼x5¼ hardcover [5/2017] for $8.92 |
Image Gallery
L i n k s
"1984" novel entry at Wikipedia
Spirit of America Bookstore's George Orwell [1903-50] Page
http://www.netcharles.com/orwell/books/1984.htm
http://www.george-orwell.org
The Orwell Foundation [est. 1993]
The Orwell Prizes [est. 1993]: official website •
Wikipedia
here on the "Nineteen Eighty-Four (1 9 8 4)" Novel & Movies Page at Spirit of America Bookstore
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