SUMMARY - 1984 By George Orwell

This audiobook is narrated by a digital voice. As you read this summary, you will discover that it is sometimes useful to imagine the worst, thanks to the light brought by the novel 1984. You will also discover : that a work of science fiction can carry a powerful political criticism; that there are virtues to pessimism; that language can be an instrument of manipulation; the surprising precision of a novel of anticipation written more than 70 years ago; which hides under the pseudonym of George Orwell. The collapse of a society begins with wars or natural disasters. As the country collapses, another system appears. From then on, freedom no longer exists, citizens are under surveillance, no contestation is possible. The films or novels that set this scenario belong to a very particular genre: dystopia, which is opposed to utopia, a world where everything is fine. This genre developed at the end of the 19th century, when men began to fear the consequences of the race for progress. George Orwell was a pioneer. It was in 1984, published in 1949, that he defined the genre as a satire through the fantasy of real societies. But what's the use of imagining the worst? How would being pessimistic be enough to avoid catastrophe?