I’m reading 1984 and finding it both bleak and disturbingly aligned with reality.
What I’m struggling with isn’t the reality the book is pointing to itself, but what comes after. Orwell shows what domination looks like when it succeeds, but he doesn’t really offer a way forward.
I’m curious what books people see as an “antidote” of sorts to 1984. Not in the sense of naïve optimism or escapism, but works that acknowledge similar realities while offering more hope than Orwell leaves us with.
Fiction or nonfiction is welcome. Would love to hear what helped you metabolize 1984 rather than just sit in its bleakness.
by bearpuddles
8 Comments
Brave new world maybe?
Oof you’re not going to like this one but I think it’s the opposite both in energy and thought.
Starhawk’s The Fifth Sacred Thing
It isn’t the best recommendation but it makes sense in my mind. The third book (I never read the second and it didn’t seem to matter) is the hopeful ending I think you’re looking for.
Or Sherri Tepper’s Gibbons Decline and Fall might be a better fit.
I’d like to find a nonfiction rec. Following this post.
Though I don’t think it’s a very good novel, Huxley’s *Island* is about a utopia; a counterbalance to *Brave New World*. In general, I think it’s hard to make utopias interesting to read about!
We by Yevgeny Zamyatin.
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein
Hannah Arendt wrote The Origins of Totalitarianism to explain how these states come to power, and then how they function. I’m not sure if you would find it reassuring or not, but it does include things to look out for and to try to avoid in yourself and those around you.
i think we’re supposed to understand that the regime in 1984 is inherently unstable, not that it helps our protagonists.