1984 Nineteen Eighty-Four: New Edition of the Twentieth Century's Dystopian Masterpiece

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Birlinn, Limited, Jan 14, 2021 - Fiction - 400 pages
THE JURA EDITION with new introduction by Alex Massie

'For him Jura was home' - Richard Blair on his father George Orwell

'The book of the twentieth century . . . haunts us with an ever-darker relevance' - Ben Pimlott, Independent

'The greatest British novel to have been written since the war' - Time Out

'His final masterpiece . . . enthralling and indispensable for understanding modern history' - New York Review of Books

The year is 1984 and war and revolution have left the world unrecognisable. Great Britain, now known as Airstrip One, is ruled by the Party, led by Big Brother. Mass surveillance is everything and The Thought Police are employed to ensure that no individual thinking is allowed. Winston Smith works at The Ministry of Truth, carefully rewriting history, but he dreams of freedom and of rebellion.

It is here that he meets and falls in love with Julia. They start a secret, forbidden affair - but nothing can be kept secret, and they are forced to face consequences more terrifying than either of them could have ever imagined.

In this new edition of a modern classic, Alex Massie's introduction highlights the importance that Jura had on the writing of one of the twentieth century's most important works of fiction.

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About the author (2021)

George Orwell was born Eric Arthur Blair on June 25, 1903 in Motihari in Bengal, India and later studied at Eton College for four years. He was an assistant superintendent with the Indian Imperial Police in Burma. He left that position after five years and moved to Paris, where he wrote his first two books: Burmese Days and Down and Out in Paris and London. He then moved to Spain to write but decided to join the United Workers Marxist Party Militia. After being decidedly opposed to communism, he served in the British Home Guard and with the Indian Service of the BBC during World War II. After the war, he wrote for the Observer and was literary editor for the Tribune. His best known works are Animal Farm and 1984. His other works include A Clergyman's Daughter, Keep the Aspidistra Flying, The Road to Wigan Pier, Homage to Catalonia, and Coming Up for Air. He died on January 21, 1950 at the age of 46. Alex Massie is the Scotland Editor of the Spectator. The son of the journalist Allan Massie, he was educated at Glenalmond College in Perthshire and at Trinity College, Dublin.

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