Great Works of English Literature: 1984 by George Orwell

Welche Bücher haben die englischsprachige Literatur geprägt? Die Rubrik „Great Works of English Literature“ stellt einige der bekanntesten Werke vor. Die aktuelle Ausgabe der Read On nimmt uns mit in Orwells düstere Zukunftsvision eines totalitären Überwachungsstaats. Wie der Artikel zeigt, hat Orwells dystopischer Roman 1984 auch über 70 Jahre nach seinem Erscheinen nichts von seiner Aktualität eingebüßt.

1984 by George Orwell

The novel’s unsettling vision of a totalitarian future has been seen by many as a foreshadowing of things to come.

By Siobhan Bruns

1                 1984 is about a dystopian future world where people who have their own thoughts and desires are crushed, only groupthink is accepted, and Big Brother is always watching.

2                 The main character of the story is Winston Smith, a citizen of Oceania and a member of the Outer Party, which is for the low-ranking members of the ruling Party. He works at the Ministry of Truth.

3                 The Party is totalitarian, and it wants to control everything in Oceania, including history, language, and even thought.

4                 To control thought, the Party has invented a special language called Newspeak. With its simple grammar and small vocabulary, it is designed to limit a person’s ability for critical thinking.

5                 Newspeak also tries to prevent political rebellion by removing any words that have to do with rebellion.

6                 Not only can people not talk about rebellion; they also may not think about it. That would be a thoughtcrime. And thoughtcrime is the worst crime of all.

7                 As to history, the Party believes: “Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past”. So, the Party changes all historical records to fit their needs.

8                 Actually, that’s Winston’s job at the Ministry of Truth.

9                 He changes historical records that make the Party look bad to make it look good and puts any information which could harm the Party into the Memory Hole – an opening in the wall that is connected to an incinerator – to be destroyed.

10               But Winston has begun to notice that the Party often lies. For instance, they say that Oceania has always been allied with Eastasia in a war against Eurasia, but he seems to remember a time when this was not true.

11               Although he knows it’s illegal to have these thoughts, Winston wants to get things clear in his head. So, he decides to write them down.

12               However, this is not easy to do because writing down one’s thoughts is illegal, and Big Brother is always watching.

…

Den vollständigen Artikel lesen Sie in der aktuellen Ausgabe der Read On.

Vocabulary

0–1             unsettling verstörend — totalitarian totalitär — foreshadowing Vorahnung — desire Wunsch — to crush s.o. jdn. unterdrücken — groupthink Gruppendenken — Big Brother Großer Bruder

2–3             citizen Bürger(in) — Oceania Ozeanien — Outer Party Äußere Partei — low-ranking niederrangig — ruling regierend — Ministry of Truth Ministerium für Wahrheit

4–5             Newspeak Neusprech — to be designed to do s.th. darauf ausgerichtet sein, etw. zu tun — to limit s.th. etw. einschränken

6–9             thoughtcrime Gedankenverbrechen — as to … was … angeht — historical records historische Aufzeichnungen — to fit their needs nach ihren Vorstellungen — to harm s.th. etw. schaden — Memory Hole Gedächtnisloch — incinerator Verbrennungsanlage

10–12        to be allied with s.o. mit jdm. verbündet sein — Eastasia Ostasien

Bild: KI-generiert