In [b:Amusing Ourselves to Death|74034|Amusing Ourselves to Death Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business|Neil Postman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1568871230l/74034.SY75.jpg|2337731] (1985), media theorist Neil Postman reflects on the influence of television on public discourse. ‘We were keeping our eye on 1984’, he writes, warning the West not to lose itself in fear of a dystopia according to George Orwell’s 1984 (1949), based on a system of information control and surveillance: in the end, Postman argues, a ‘show business society’ is more likely to lead to a dystopia according to Aldous Huxley’s [b:Brave New World|3180338|Brave New World|Aldous Huxley|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1551151249l/3180338.SY75.jpg|3204877] (1932), based on contentment and ignorance.

There is, however, an objection to the comparison. It struck me how much 1984 is actually related to Orwell’s earlier work [b:Animal Farm|56730514|Animal Farm|George Orwell|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1611001402l/56730514.SY75.jpg|2207778]. Especially the passages on propaganda and the rewriting of history made me realise that the novel is primarily a critique of totalitarianism in the Soviet Union. Orwell’s choice to set his story in London triggers the mind, but I still missed a cultural-historical context. Orwell does not ask how or why; therefore, it remains questionable whether 1984 should be read as an ominous prophecy. Unlike Huxley’s novel, I wouldn’t label it ‘science-fiction’ either. Orwell stayed pretty close to the state of art, referring at most to an extensive network of surveillance cameras and microphones.

Whatever of this, the novel is an absolute 5-star read. Orwell’s atmosphere is so grim and sinister that the reader instinctively knows that Big Brother is watching. There are several ‘details’ that emphasise the creepiness of the totalitarian system, such as the ‘shrinking’ language Newspeak and the segregation between proletarians and party members, who are both free and imprisoned in different manners. I could reread this book many times without getting bored.