John, John, let's turn to Winston Smith, the lead character through whom we appreciate and understand. Can you tell us about him? Yes, well, I mean, picking up exactly what David was saying, he's very ordinary in a way. And so much of the book and the way it's narrated is focused through his consciousness. We learn about his dreams, the fear that he has that he might have killed his mother, he thinks. There are often quite dark feelings that he has, so he's deeply misogynistic.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss George Orwell's (1903-1950) final novel, published in 1949, set in a dystopian London which is now found in Airstrip One, part of the totalitarian superstate of Oceania which is always at war and where the protagonist, Winston Smith, works at the Ministry of Truth as a rewriter of history: 'Who controls the past,' ran the Party slogan, 'controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.' The influence of Orwell's novel is immeasurable, highlighting threats to personal freedom with concepts he named such as doublespeak, thoughtcrime, Room 101, Big Brother, memory hole and thought police.
With
David Dwan
Professor of English Literature and Intellectual History at the University of Oxford
Lisa Mullen
Teaching Associate in Modern Contemporary Literature at the University of Cambridge
And
John Bowen
Professor of English Literature at the University of York
Producer: Simon Tillotson