Soviet Journal Prints Part of ‘1984’
Parts of George Orwell’s celebrated novel “1984” about a mind-numbing totalitarian society have been published in the Soviet Union with an introduction saying Soviets are ready to judge it for themselves.
However, the excerpts, appearing in Literary Gazette, also carry an editor’s note suggesting Orwell’s fictional society bears no resemblance to the Soviet Union of today.
The page of excerpts was published with an introduction by Sergei Zalygin, editor of Novy Mir magazine. Novy Mir plans to publish the 1949 novel in full later this year. The novel has never before been published in the Soviet Union.
The excerpts included the omnipresent warning of Orwell’s imaginary regime that “Big Brother is Watching You” and the mind-bending recitations of the Ministry of Truth that “War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength.”
Publication of the excerpts is seen as another display of criticism of the repression that marked Josef Stalin’s 29 years in power.
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