L'azione si svolge in un futuro prossimo del mondo (l'anno 1984) in cui il potere si concentra in tre immensi superstati: Oceania, Eurasia ed Estasia. Al vertice del potere politico in Oceania c'è il Grande Fratello, onnisciente e infallibile, che nessuno ha visto di persona ma di cui ovunque sono visibili grandi manifesti. Il Ministero della Verità, nel quale lavora il personaggio principale, Smith, ha il compito di censurare libri e giornali non in linea con la politica ufficiale, di alterare la storia e di ridurre le possibilità espressive della lingua. Per quanto sia tenuto sotto controllo da telecamere, Smith comincia a condurre un'esistenza sovversiva. Scritto nel 1949, il libro è considerato una delle più lucide rappresentazioni del totalitarismo.
A lot to unpack in this book. The lead character (Winston) has some pretty misogynistic tendencies, and there's not a single female character in the book with any depth whatsoever. This can be explained to some extent by the fact that it was written in the 40s, and that Winston has been subject to psychological manipulation essentially since birth.
Problematic elements aside, this provides an interesting dive into the world of psychological warfare, which remains relevant to this day.
George Orwell étire la réalité des régimes autoritaires pour en faire un régime absolu, total.
Alors oui l’Angsoc n’est pas le parti qui domine notre vie politique et non les journaux officiels ne sont pas en Novlangue… mais…
Parfois grâce à liberté de la Science-fiction on peut en exagérant sur les mécanismes de la société, nous montrer ce qu’on ne voit pas aujourd’hui comme…
Le parti qui veut le pouvoir… pour le pouvoir. La classe dirigeante du roman n’a pas vraiment beaucoup d’avantages matériels mais aucune hypocrisie ou faux semblant : le parti veut écraser l’individu pour écraser l’individu. Pas d’avenir radieux. Pas de promesse de paradis pour le travailleur, le sur-homme ou l’entrepreneur (rayez les mentions inutiles).
Le pouvoir pour le pouvoir pour toujours.
Le parti s’appuie entre autres sur la langue. Le parti s’approprie les mots, les détourne, les vides de leur substance. Cette volonté est affichée et motivée (et même expliquée en annexe).
Très pertinente lecture qui expose à nu des manipulations que l’on croise dissimulées.
Le parti s’appuie sur la surveillance. Un sujet qui a dépassé la fiction.
La grande force du récit ?
Incarner de si grand thème, un point de vue si large avec seulement trois personnages centraux.
The contributions of this book are far too grand for me to go into all details here. To make it short, I believe that Orwell provided a fitting explanation of how individual thought is suppressed under totalitarian regimes. The principles of doublethink are also used in democratic states whenever it is politically necessary to hold two conflicting opinions. I even claim that it is a politician's most essential skill to perform this mental gymnastics convincingly.
However, this propaganda does not necesarrily manage to convince everybody. Regardless of the political system, it seems that generally, the people under its influence tend to root for it. But also regardless of the system, the capacity for subversive ideas can never be eliminated. Whether this capacity is actually of any use, though, depends on the system. The dystopian world of 1984 deals with subversive thoughts in such an efficient way, that revolutionary spirit is …
The contributions of this book are far too grand for me to go into all details here. To make it short, I believe that Orwell provided a fitting explanation of how individual thought is suppressed under totalitarian regimes. The principles of doublethink are also used in democratic states whenever it is politically necessary to hold two conflicting opinions. I even claim that it is a politician's most essential skill to perform this mental gymnastics convincingly.
However, this propaganda does not necesarrily manage to convince everybody. Regardless of the political system, it seems that generally, the people under its influence tend to root for it. But also regardless of the system, the capacity for subversive ideas can never be eliminated. Whether this capacity is actually of any use, though, depends on the system. The dystopian world of 1984 deals with subversive thoughts in such an efficient way, that revolutionary spirit is crushed before it even started to materialize.
