1984

10 hrs. 45 min.

Language Russian

Author George Orwell

Narrator David Lomov

Description

This is George Orwell’s last book; he published it in 1949, a year before his death. The anti-utopian novel made the author famous and remains the gold standard of the genre. The story takes place in London, one of the key cities of the totalitarian superstate Oceania.

A frighteningly detailed depiction of a society built on fear and oppression serves as the backdrop for one of the brightest human stories in world literature. At the center of the plot is the fate of the small-time party functionary-dissident Winston Smith and his dangerous love affair with a colleague.

In the USSR, Orwell’s book was banned until 1989: perhaps the party leadership of the country saw in the social structure of Oceania features of the Soviet system. However, the society described by Orwell is not a copy of the totalitarian regimes he knew.