1984 Discussion

[Golding15BF]

I have read the book and found it quite interesting. I would like to know what books also convey a portrayal of an altered future, and in what ways are they related to 1984?

[Sitaram]

I am anxious to locate and purchase a new edition of 1984 which, I understand, has a 20 page introduction written by Thomas Pynchon. Pynchon acknowledges a debt that he owes to Orwell for artistic/philosophical inspiration.

If you want altered futures, read Ursula Le Guin "The Lathe of Heaven", and try to see the PBS film version. It is about a man who has "effective dreams" which alter the very fabric of reality, and about the megalomaniacal Dr. Haber, who tries to harness this power to "make the world right."

I read 1984 around the year 1964, when the title still seemed very much in the future. I remember New Year's Eve, 1983, when the book was very much on peoples minds because suddenly, if would actually be 1984.

During the 1950s, and 1960s the Cold War, Communism, Khrushchev banging his shoe on a table in the U.N. shouting "We will bury you", and frequent drills in preparation for atomic war, made the fear of a "Big Brother" very real. I do not mean to imply that such fears are now a thing of the past, but I think they were more vivid in those decades.

[crisaor]

I am anxious to locate and purchase a new edition of 1984 which, I understand, has a 20 page introduction written by Thomas Pynchon. Pynchon acknowledges a debt that he owes to Orwell for artistic/philosophical inspiration.
Then perhaps this (http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/dowbrigade/discuss/msgReader$123) will help you endure it until you can find a copy.

[Sitaram]

Much obliged for the link! Thanks!

[NewWorldOrder]

Pynchon 1984 Intro seems interesting though I need to read it in more details.

[MiSaNtHrOpE]

There are many books related to 1984.

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury,
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
The Wanting Seed by Anthony Burgess
Try to see the film THX1138, directed by George Lucas.