Article المقال ( Janvier )

 

1984

3/3

Written by: Prof. Essam Fattouh 

Professor of English Literature 

Department of English

Faculty of Arts – University of Alexandria

 

 

 

Stalin’s Russian totalitarianism and Hitler’s German Nazism may both be said to have given rise to what I shall term the dystopian tendency in British fiction during the 1940s. A key dystopian novel, which greatly affected Orwell’s fiction, was Darkness at Noon which appeared in 1940, written by the Hungarian/British novelist Arthur Koestler.

Koestler and Orwell had become close friends admiring the works of one another. In his review of Darkness at Noon for The Statesman, Orwell describes it as a brilliant novel with an inward knowledge of totalitarian methods. Koestler had just escaped from Paris in 1940, months before the German occupation.

The gloomy oppressive atmosphere of this classic, set during Stalin’s purge, documents and reflects the late imprisonment and trial of Comrade Rubashov, a founding Bolshevik, ironically tried by the regime he himself helped bring into existence. The figure of Stalin is referred to as Number One in Koestler’s novel—note the affinity with Napoleon the Pig in Animal Farm and Big Brother in 1984.

In what was to be his last triumphant masterpiece, Orwell concocted a combination of three sub-genres of English fiction: A futuristic political satire; science fiction; and the doomed love-story. The setting for 1984 presents us with a world characterized by a state of perpetual war, a hegemonic government deploying surveillance to maintain its power, and hold an unchallenged monopoly over propaganda. Big Brother, though he is present throughout the novel, is never actually encountered as a person or a character. We are informed that he is the leader of the party, who enjoys intense popularity, though as a matter of fact, the reader is never sure whether he actually exists.

Winston Smith, Orwell’s protagonist, on the other hand, is presented as an intelligent diligent member of the outer party, skeptical of the party’s worldview, capable of love, and – as the novel proceeds – becomes gradually disillusioned with dreams of joining a rebellion leading to a drastically better future. The geopolitics of this futuristic world is polarized and divided up among three super-powers: Oceania, Eastasia and Eurasia. It was none other than Orwell who first coined the term “cold war” to depict the alliances and conflicts among the world’s super-powers. Except that in his fictional version they are constantly at war with one another, while perpetually shifting alliances.

Winston Smith, the last man in Europe, works at the Ministry of Truth, one of the four major ministries through which the governance of Oceania is administered. Three major slogans of the party are displayed on the facades of each Ministry: “War is Peace”; “Freedom is Slavery”; and “Ignorance is Strength”. These slogans are reminiscent of the Seven Principles of Animalism in Animal Farm discussed above.

The Ministry of Truth revises historical records and falsifies any statements not sanctioned by the party. The Ministry of Plenty, accordingly, is responsible for rationing all goods, retaining a low standard of living, even among the members of the Outer Party. The Ministry of Peace supports Oceania’s wars against either of the two other super-powers.

Finally, the Ministry of Love monitors and arrests political dissidents (real or imagined), where the accused are tortured and brainwashed into expressing true love for the party and its leader, Big Brother. The love that binds Smith and Julia initially encouraged them to face the prospect of their arrest and torture by the Thought Police. Room 101 ultimately exposes the love between them as no more than an illusion.

IngSoc, Newsspeak, Double-think and Big Brother have all pervaded the English dictionary and European as well as American culture at large. In fact, an adjective has been coined of Orwell – Orwellian – to denote any thought that smacks of totalitarianism.

More than any other novel in the English language, 1984 has been translated and enjoyed by the readers of 65 languages. The novel has also been adapted theatrically, as well as for film and TV. With many similarities between our world in the twenty-first century and that depicted by Orwell in 1984, the world is well advised to heed Orwell’s two prophetic yet dystopian novels. Totalitarianism still looms, threateningly, over the horizon. Orwell’s telescreens are amateurish compared to modern technology that enables governments to spy on their populations, and last but not least the political use of torture, as human rights reports amply testify, is still being deployed in dozens of countries.

To reverse Orwell’s dystopian vision, he seems to be telling us, our race would have to retain what some may deem old-fashioned, humanist faith in Individualism, Truth and Love – or to reinvent them, even if it be against the odds.