1984 by George Orwell published in 1949 was read by me in my 30's living in a third-world nation. It did unlock me to an unexplainable experience of reality and how George Orwell managed to predict such a reality is what makes this dystopian fiction a masterpiece.
The narrator is unpredictable (Winston Smith) and is in a web conspiracy, mystery, and nostalgia. He is seeking truth and finds to be confused about it. This is mind-blowing and stunning just like the novel 'Brave New World' (1932) by Aldous Huxley.
As a Sri Lankan the struggle to send President Gotabhaya Rajapakse for resignation during the year 2022 and the Sri Lankan media and security force's role in it reflects some of the influence of this novel.
And also the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (People's Liberation Front) (JVP) insurrections in 1971 and 1988 also have a shadow on this novel.
The modern social media world shows a glimpse of mass-level surveillance which is also related to this novel.
It is a sad and depressing story of a bleak human world and the author has managed to compact so many details and information into a small number of pages which is an unmatchable achievement.
Many of the descriptions of the world in the novel remind me of Sri Lanka's current state as a nation.
The third part of the novel is a shocking reading experience.
I read the Sinhala translation of the same book (By Ariyawansha Ranaweera) parallelly which was not well executed as a good translation.
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