1985 Anthony Burgess

Burgess' 1985 is really two works combined. The first is a series of essays and self-interviews that discuss Orwell's 1984. These are a great group of essays that really throw some light on Orwell's novel. Anyone who likes 1984 should read these essays. The second half is a novella of Burgess titled 1985. The dust jacket gives the impression that it is supposed to be a sequel of sorts. It isn't. It is a dystopia that takes place in 1985 (written in 1978) and is supposed to be a (more) possible scenario at the time. It isn't very entertaining, and a lot of ideas, characters, themes, etc aren't fleshed out the way they should be. But I suppose that could do with the shortness of the story. And Burgess should have been more careful with his title. Burgess's 1985 isn't a frightening or as well written as Orwell's 1984, and Burgess drawing the reader to make a comparison only hurts his story. After the novella is a short chapter on Worker's English (WE) which is Burgess' version of Newspeak. The problem is that WE isn't used much in the story, is really nothing more than a little slang, and I understand that Burgess only has the chapter/essay because of Orwell's explanation of Newspeak, but it is dull and unnecessary. Then Burgess finishes out the volume with another self-interview which discusses the possibility of his future. All this in only 270 pages. Still, the discussion of Orwell's 1984 that the first half is comprised of is excellent and the book is worth finding, if only for that. Это и многое другое вы найдете в книге 1985 (Anthony Burgess)