1984

Chomsky on Democracy Now! discussing Orwell 

I am ashamed to admit I only recently read Orwell's famous novel, 1984. Now, after finally finishing it, one can see how so much of the science fiction literature and film after Orwell's masterpiece are so clearly influenced by Orwell's keen understanding of totalitarianism and the recent horrors of the Second World War. Orwell's inventive use of language, interest in metaphysics, constant allusions to mental health and more bring to mind the works of Philip K. Dick (mainly Flow My Tears) and even some of the most prominent intellectuals and writers who so often reference Orwell or his ideas in their work on politics, US foreign policy, or more. Although I think Aldous Huxley is probably right about future totalitarianism requiring more subtle and unique forms of social control than what Orwell conceived for 1984, Orwell's quite nuanced and wrote a better novel than Huxley's classic, and in turn surpassed his earlier Animal Farm, an enjoyable parable I read in middle school.