George Orwell’s Letter On Why He Wrote ‘1984’

Why George Orwell Wrote '1984'
FILE - This undated file photo shows writer George Orwell, author of "1984." Sales for such dystopian classics as George Orwell's ?1984? and Aldous Huxley's ?Brave New World? have been strong since news broke last week that the government had a vast surveillance program of phone and Internet records. Several editions of Orwell's ?1984,? about an all-seeing government, were among top Amazon.com's top 200 sellers as of Wednesday morning. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - This undated file photo shows writer George Orwell, author of "1984." Sales for such dystopian classics as George Orwell's ?1984? and Aldous Huxley's ?Brave New World? have been strong since news broke last week that the government had a vast surveillance program of phone and Internet records. Several editions of Orwell's ?1984,? about an all-seeing government, were among top Amazon.com's top 200 sellers as of Wednesday morning. (AP Photo, File)

In 1944, three years before writing and five years before publishing 1984, George Orwell penned a letter detailing the thesis of his great novel. The letter, warning of the rise of totalitarian police states that will ‘say that two and two are five,’ is reprinted from George Orwell: A Life in Letters, edited by Peter Davison and published today by Liveright.

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