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About the product • A classic of world literature, one of the most famous dystopias, a must have for a modern educated person. • A new modern translation by Leonid Bershidsky, a famous journalist, the first editor-in-chief of the Vedomosti newspaper, now a staff columnist for the Bloomberg agency. principles formulated by Orwell in an appendix to the novel • Original illustrations based on propaganda posters of different times, regimes and countries. «1984» is the last book by George Orwell, he published it in 1949, a year before his death. The dystopian novel made the author famous and remains the gold standard of the genre. The action takes place in London, one of the main cities of the totalitarian superstate of Oceania. The frighteningly detailed description of a society based on fear and oppression serves as the backdrop for one of the most striking human stories in world literature. The plot focuses on the fate of the petty party functionary and dissident Winston Smith and his dangerous romance with a colleague. In the USSR, Orwell’s book was banned until 1989: the country’s party leadership probably recognized the features of the Soviet system in the social structure of Oceania. However, the society described by Orwell is not a copy of the totalitarian regimes known to him. «1984» and now reads as a highly relevant commentary on current events. In this book, the novel is presented in a new, modern translation by Leonid Bershidsky. Quotes: «As if some powerful force presses, presses, penetrates the cranium, squeezes the brain, replaces beliefs with fear , makes you not believe your own eyes and ears. In the end, when the Party announces that two times two is five, that too will have to be believed. And she will declare inevitably, this is required by the logic of the party approach. The philosophy of the Party actively, albeit not in plain text, denies not only the objectivity of experience, but also the very existence of the surrounding reality. Common sense is the main heresy. And the scary thing is not even that the Party will kill you for dissent, but that it is she, perhaps, right. After all, how do we know that twice two is four? ”“ And if everyone else accepts the lie imposed by the Party, and all sources tell the same thing, the lie fits into history and becomes true. “Who controls the past controls the future,” says the party’s slogan. «Who controls the present controls the past.» And yet the past, albeit mutable by nature, never really changes. What is true now is true from century to century. It’s simple. It only takes an endless series of victories over one’s own memory. “Reality management” — that’s what it’s called, and in the new speech it’s “double mind.” “Big Brother answered him, promised protection and support, — but what kind of grin is hidden under the black mustache? Like the striking of a lead bell, the words rang out in his head: WAR IS WORLD FREEDOM IS SLAVERY IS POWER. world classics according to the newspaper The Guardian • Top-30 books that are worth reading up to 30 years old according to ADME.RU Expert reviews: “1984” does not become outdated because it describes not a superficial, but a deep scheme of the influence of suppressive power on thoughts and, accordingly, the soul of people. Orwell talks about how the human norm, the very “moral law within us,” changes with the consistent manipulation of the meaning of the simplest concepts and the most basic certainties. ”Anna Narinskaya, literary critic device, likes to fantasize about a brutal dictatorship. 1984 is the most successful product in this genre: the book has something to please both the fearful intellectual and the mass consumer. This is an energetically and captivatingly written text, moderately scary, sometimes funny, obviously parodying Soviet life as seen from the outside. Other components of success are a distinct love line and graphic descriptions of cruelty, which the reader also always cares about. In the future of the 1984 universe, there are no futurological signs like Zamyatin, no mysticism like Kafka, no psychedelic like Huxley. This is a picture that is easy to believe: a very dull, miserable life, where technical innovations are only the Big Brother’s eye (as they would say now, a laptop camera). Dystopia, but not fiction. What is especially relevant for our historical moment — the post-truth world is described. Endless editing of the past is the main occupation of the protagonist, and the antihero asserts the basic totalitarian truth — “the party is above the facts.” Ekaterina Shulman, political scientist, teacher About the author: George Orwell (real name — Eric Arthur Blair) is a British writer and publicist. Born 1903 in Bengal, he graduated from Eton College and served with the colonial police in Burma until 1927. Then he lived for a long time in Great Britain and Europe, making a living by odd jobs, then he began to write fiction and journalism. In 1937 he fought in Spain against Franco. He wrote many essays and articles of a social-critical and cultural nature. He introduced the term «cold war» into the political language, which was later widely used. During World War II, he hosted an anti-fascist program on the BBC. The pinnacle of his work is the satirical story Animal Farm (1945) and the dystopian novel 1984 (1949), which have become universally recognized classics of 20th century literature. He died of tuberculosis in London in 1950. About the translator: Leonid Bershidsky is a well-known Russian journalist, the first editor-in-chief of the Vedomosti newspaper, now a staff columnist for Bloomberg. …
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