1984 (new translation)

"1984" is George Orwell's last book, published in 1949, a year before his death. The dystopian novel made the author famous and remains the gold standard of the genre. The action takes place in London, one of the main cities of the totalitarian superstate Oceania. A frighteningly detailed description of a society based on fear and oppression, it serves as the backdrop for one of the most vivid human stories in world literature. The plot centers on the fate of a minor dissident party functionary Winston Smith and his dangerous affair with a colleague. Orwell's book was banned in the USSR until 1989: probably, the party leadership of the country recognized features of the Soviet system in the social structure of Oceania. However, the society described by Orwell is not a copy of the totalitarian regimes he knew. "1984" still reads like a highly topical commentary on current events. In this book, the novel is presented in a new, modern translation by Leonid Bershidsky. "It's as if some powerful force is pressing, pressing, penetrating the skull, squeezing the brain, replacing beliefs with fear, forcing you not to believe your own eyes and ears. In the end, when the Party announces that two plus two is five, you will have to believe this too. And it will inevitably announce it, the logic of the Party's approach requires it. The philosophy of the Party actively, albeit not openly, denies not only the objectivity of experience, but also the very existence of the surrounding reality. Common sense is the main heresy. And what's scary is not even that the Party will kill you for dissent, but that it may be right. “After all, how do we know that two plus two makes four?” “And if everyone else accepts the lie imposed by the Party, and all sources tell the same story, the lie is written into history and becomes the truth. “Who controls the past, controls the future,” says the Party slogan. “Who controls the present, controls the past.” And yet the past, although changeable by its nature, never really changes. What is true now is true forever and ever. It’s simple. All that’s required is an endless series of victories over one’s own memory. “Reality management” — that’s what it’s called, and in the new tongue, “two-mindedness.” “Big Brother answered him, promised protection and support — but what was that grin hidden under his black moustache? Like the strokes of a leaden bell, the words rang out in his head: WAR IS PEACE FREEDOM IS SLAVERY IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.”