Orwell had tuberculosis and quite badly. He didn't immediately know that he was going to die of it, but I think he became more and more aware the illness wasn't going to get better. At the same time as being a tuberculosis patient kind of finds its way into the novel. This is before widespread antibiotic use that could help patients with tuberculosis. It's also about what it's like to be in a place where you have no freedom, where your body and your mind are being controlled.
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