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[[Image:1984first.jpg|right|thumb|First edition of ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'' published in Britain, 1949.]]
[[Image:1984first.jpg|right|thumb|First edition of ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'' published in Britain, 1949.]]
'''''Nineteen Eighty-Four''''' (also '''''1984''''') <ref>The title is spelled out, in words, in the original 1949 editions, both as published in England by Secker and Warburg[http://catalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?v1=87&ti=76,87&Search%5FArg=Orwell%2C%20George&Search%5FCode=NAME%5F&CNT=25&PID=11284&SEQ=20070323140446&SID=1] and in the United States by Harcourt, Brace[http://catalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?v1=86&ti=76,86&Search%5FArg=Orwell%2C%20George&Search%5FCode=NAME%5F&CNT=25&PID=11284&SEQ=20070323140446&SID=1]. It is sometimes presented numerically, in digits – '''''1984''''', in modern reprints and derivative works such as screenplays.</ref>
'''''Nineteen Eighty-Four''''' (also '''''1984''''') <ref>The title is spelled out, in words, in the original 1949 editions, both as published in England by Secker and Warburg[http://catalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?v1=87&ti=76,87&Search%5FArg=Orwell%2C%20George&Search%5FCode=NAME%5F&CNT=25&PID=11284&SEQ=20070323140446&SID=1] and in the United States by Harcourt, Brace[http://catalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?v1=86&ti=76,86&Search%5FArg=Orwell%2C%20George&Search%5FCode=NAME%5F&CNT=25&PID=11284&SEQ=20070323140446&SID=1]. It is sometimes presented numerically, in digits – '''''1984''''', in modern reprints and derivative works such as screenplays.</ref>
is a novel by [[George Orwell]] about the excesses of Stalinist [[communism]] specifically and of [[liberal]] tyranny generally.
is a novel by [[George Orwell]] about the excesses of [[totalitarian]] regimes and specifically of [[Stalinist]] [[communism]].
The book's original title was ''The Last Man in Europe'', but it was changed at the publisher's suggestion. <ref>It is often suggested that "eighty-four" is a reversal of "forty-eight", the year in which the book was written, but this has never been confirmed.</ref>
The book's original title was ''The Last Man in Europe'', but it was changed at the publisher's suggestion. <ref>It is often suggested that "eighty-four" is a reversal of "forty-eight", the year in which the book was written, but this has never been confirmed.</ref>
Orwell was influenced by Jack London's novel ''[[The Iron Heel]]'', and Yevgeny Zamyatin's ''We''. The ideas of the American [[conservative]] James Burnham were especially influential in shaping the political situation described in the book.
Orwell was influenced by Jack London's novel ''[[The Iron Heel]]'', and Yevgeny Zamyatin's ''We''. The ideas of the American [[conservative]] James Burnham were especially influential in shaping the political situation described in the book.
Though Orwell was deeply critical of communism, 1984 is not meant to be taken as a condemnation of all left-of-center ideologies, as evidenced by a quote from one of his essays: "My recent novel [Nineteen Eighty-Four] is NOT intended as an attack on Socialism or on the [[British Labour Party]] (of which I am a supporter) but as a show-up of the perversions ... which have already been partly realized in Communism and Fascism. ...The scene of the book is laid in Britain in order to emphasize that the English-speaking races are not innately better than anyone else and that totalitarianism, if not fought against, could triumph anywhere."<ref>''The Collected Essays: Journalism and Letters of George Orwell Volume 4,'' p. 546 <\ref>
== Plot Summary ==
== Plot Summary ==