Sources

Quotations from 1984 are derived from this edition:

Orwell, George. 1984. Afterword by Erich Fromm. New York: Signet, 1992. Additionally, Fromm’s Afterword was crucial to this analysis.

Alldritt, Keith. The Making of George Orwell. London: Edward Arnold Ltd., 1969.

Baruch, Elaine Hoffman. “The Golden Country: Sex and Love in 1984,” in 1984 Revisited: Totalitarianism in Our Century. Harper & Row, 1983, pp. 47-56.

Bloom, Harold, ed. George Orwell: Modern Critical Views. New York: Chelsea House, 1987.

Christgau, Robert. “Writing for the People,” in The Village Voice, February 1, 1983, pp. 54–5.

Crick, Bernard. George Orwell: A Life. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1980.

Esslin, Martin. “Television and Telescreen,” in On Nineteen Eighty-Four, edited by Peter Stansky. W. H. Freeman & Co., 1983, pp. 126-38.

Gertrude Clarke Whittall Poetry and Literature Fund. George Orwell & Nineteen Eighty-Four. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Gottlieb, Erika. The Orwell Conundrum: A Cry of Despair or Faith in the Spirit of Man? Ottawa: Carleton University Press, 1992.

Hammond, J. R. A George Orwell Companion—A Guide to the Novels, Documents, and Essays. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1982.

Howe, Irving. “1984: Enigmas of Power,” in 1984 Revisited: Totalitarianism in Our Century, edited by Irving Howe. Harper & Row, 1983, pp. 3-18.

Howe, Irving, ed. 1984 Revisited: Totalitarianism in Our Century. New York: Harper and Row, 1983.

Kalechofsky, Roberta. George Orwell. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1973.

Myers, Valerie. George Orwell. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1991.

Smith, Marcus. “The Wall of Blackness: A Psychological Approach to 1984,” in Modern Fiction Studies, Winter, 1968-69, pp. 42-33.

Watt, Ian. “Winston Smith: The Last Humanist,” in On Nineteen Eighty-Four. W. H. Freeman, 1983, pp. 103-13.

Woodcock, George. The Crystal Spirit: A Study of George Orwell. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1966.

Wykes, David. A Preface to Orwell. London & New York: Longman Group, Ltd., 1987.

For Further Reading

Chilton, Paul, and Aubrey Crispin, eds. Nineteen Eighty-Four in 1984. Comedia Publishing Group, 1983. This collection of essays explores the relevance of Orwell’s novel in modern political and social contexts.

College Literature, Vol. XI, No. 1, 1984, pp. 1-113. This issue is dedicated to studies of 1984.

Gross, Miriam, ed. The World of George Orwell. Simon & Schuster, 1972. A collection of critical and biographical essays.

Kazin, Alfred. “Not One of Us,” in The New York Review of Books, Vol. XXXI, no. 10, June 14, 1984, pp. 13-4, 16, 18. Kazin examines the political dimensions of Orwell’s novel.

Modern Fiction Studies, Vol. 21, No. 1, Spring 1975, pp. 3-136. This issue focuses on Orwell criticism.

Munk, Erica. “Love Is Hate: Women and Sex in 1984,” in Village Voice, Vol. XXVIII, No. 5, February 1, 1983, pp. 50-2. Munk critiques Orwell's novel for its treatment (or neglect) of women in Oceania.

Podhoretz, Norman. “If Orwell Were Alive Today,” in Harper’s, Vol. 266, No. 1592, January, 1983, pp. 30-2, 34-7. Podhoretz uses 1984 to align Orwell with neo-conservatism.

Watt, Ian. “Winston Smith: The Last Humanist,” in On Nineteen Eighty-Four, edited by Peter Stansky. W. H. Freeman & Co., 1983, pp. 103-13. Watt portrays Winston Smith as a humanist and his downfall as the demise of humanist values.

Woodcock, George. Remembering Orwell, edited by Stephen Wadhams. Penguin, 1984. Woodcock challenges writers like Podhoretz who align Orwell with neo-conservatives. Instead, he places Orwell among English literary radicals such as Jonathan Swift and Charles Dickens.

Seven years after the novel was published, Nineteen Eighty-Four was adapted into a motion picture. Produced by N. Peter Rathvon, directed by Michael Anderson, and with a screenplay by William T. Templeton and Ralph Bettison, the film was presented as a Holiday Film Production by Columbia Pictures in 1956. Released under the title 1984, it starred Edmond O'Brien, Jan Sterling, and Michael Redgrave in the leading roles. The film was seen as an overly ambitious artistic endeavor. Critics generally responded unfavorably, noting the challenges of translating the novel's complex themes to the screen. Nonetheless, the film was somewhat successful in capturing the ominous atmosphere and the paralyzing effect of Orwell's dystopian vision.

In 1984, coinciding with the novel's titular year to maximize its impact, a new film adaptation was released by Atlantic Releasing Corporation. Directed and written by Michael Radford, with Roger Deakins as the director of photography, this version was presented by Virgin Films/Umbrella-Rosenblum Films Production. Like its predecessor, Radford's 1984 received mixed reviews. The primary issue was the novel's heavy reliance on language, particularly its corruption, which proved difficult to convey visually. Despite this, the film featured notable performances, especially Richard Burton in his final screen role, Suzanne Hamilton, and John Hurt as Winston Smith.

• 1984 (1984) is an excellent adaptation of George Orwell’s renowned novel, directed by Michael Kadford. This film stars John Hurt and includes Richard Burton in his last screen role.