1984 by George Orwell

Weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump’s inauguration, Amazon reported a surge in the sale of dystopian novels, particularly George Orwell’s 1984 . Written in 1948 and published a year later, Orwell’s dark futuristic commentary on the post-World War years and his choice of themes, including totalitarianism and censorship, still finds resonance in today’s world. As the U.S. and the U.K. become more isolationist and protective of their own interests, Orwell’s novel seems eerily prescient.

In 1984 , the three States of Oceania, Eurasia and Eastasia are always fighting each other. The protagonist Winston Smith was once a journalist but now works for the Ministry of Truth. He is tasked with manipulating history to rewrite it in the perspective of the State. As “Big Brother” watches over everyone, Winston decides to write a secret diary to defy the authoritarian State, and the reader watches helplessly as he unravels.

“If you want a picture of the future,” a Thought Police activist tells Winston, “imagine a boot stamping on a human face — for ever.” In

1984 , “doublethink” prevails, which is “the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.” Thus, war is peace; freedom is slavery; ignorance is strength and “power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing.” We know nothing will be as it seems when we are told right at the beginning, “It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.” As politicians around the world indulge in “alternative facts” and “Newspeak”, the relevance of Orwell’s warning cannot be overlooked.

Other dystopian novels are seeing a resurgence in sales too. Margaret Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale, published in 1985, is set in the future at a time when America has collapsed and an authoritarian government is in place in New England. Women are treated badly, abortion is illegal, and fertile women bear children for higher caste women.

The other book which has been seeing increased sales is Sinclair Lewis’ 1935 satire It Can’t Happen Here. The key character, Berzelius ‘Buzz’ Windrip, whips up a frenzy among angry voters with his rhetoric. During the campaign trail, his supporters go around with placards saying, “We are on relief. We want to become human beings again. We want Buzz.”

Once Windrip wins, he brings in a fascist government to run the country which targets immigrants and the poor. They say reality is stranger than fiction, and Lewis’ book eerily predicted the rise of Donald Trump.

Sudipta Datta looks back at one classic each fortnight.