2020 Reflections on Ninteen Eighty-Four

Presenter: Dr. Steve Ealy, senior fellow, Liberty Fund

Nineteen Eighty-Four was published in the early days of the Soviet Union's consolidation of its empire behind the Iron Curtain, and was read by many as simply an attack on Stalin and his repressive state. Is there anything more to it than that? In 1986 the literary critic Harold Bloom denied that it was great literature but still concluded, "The book remains momentous; perhaps it always will be so." He continued, "There is nothing intrinsic to the book that will determine its future importance. Its very genre will be established by political, social, economic events. Is it satire or science fiction or dystopia or counter manifesto?" My remarks will reflect on how contemporary events and trends relate to Orwell's story, and discuss the light that Orwell's created world of Oceana throws on our own political and social reality.

Relevant books on exhibit at the E.B. and Bertha C. Ball Center:

· Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell, 1949, 1st American edition.

· Democracy in America, Alexis De Tocqueville, 1841, 1st complete edition.