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16 - Why Orwell still matters

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2007

By
Christopher Hitchens
Edited by
John Rodden
John Rodden
Affiliation:
University of Texas, Austin
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Summary

As I was beginning to write this Afterword, I received two invitations, both of them from London, in the space of two days. The first came from the BBC's 'Open Book' radio programme, which forwards readers' queries and difficulties to supposed 'experts', and invites them to act as 'radio doctors' giving advice to patients. Here was what my own patient complained of, in email form:

I have always wanted to read Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. I have tried and tried but get lost very quickly and haven't managed to have gotten past chapter 3. I have difficulty picturing the scenes described in the book. I have never had so much difficulty with a book, and it would be a big achievement if I could read, understand and love the book. I believe it is a brilliant piece of literature and feel I am missing out. I have tried to track down the film which I thought might help.

My second invitation was from the Frontline Club, a group of war and foreign correspondents who meet to discuss new books and films in their general area of interest. A new documentary had been made, about 'Orwellian' manipulation of the media in the United States, and the invitation closed with the ominous proposition that '1984' might not be 'just a date in the future'.

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Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Companion to George Orwell , pp. 201 - 207
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2007

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