Little known fact: 1984 is based on WW2 and immediate post-war Britain. Orwell was a propaganda correspondent for the BBC; his wife worked for the Censorship Department. 1984 was based on his experiences then, and the disillusionment of the Cold War immediately following WW2. He had initially intended to title it 1948.
Actually, this is not that little-known: it's in the Wikipedia page for George Orwell and easily accessible on the net, and the text itself says it's set in Great Britain after the major powers have divided up the world and entered a state of perpetual war.
People get thrown by the title, though, thinking that it's a prediction of a future dystopia while Orwell was actually writing about the world he lived in then.
Orwell is an interesting figure; while a solid left-winger all his life, his experience in the Spanish Civil War left him with an entirely justified fear and hatred of Stalinism. 1984 and Animal Farm are about this, both allegories for the crimes of Stalin. 1984 was a fairly straightforward extrapolation of trends he could see back then. All the little details of the dystopia can be traced back to actual events under Stalin or Mao.
Hmm...hard to believe this is not commonly known when the book is taught in schools, even in the US. I suppose the students need to be awake and paying attention..
Actually, this is not that little-known: it's in the Wikipedia page for George Orwell and easily accessible on the net, and the text itself says it's set in Great Britain after the major powers have divided up the world and entered a state of perpetual war.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Orwell#Second_World_War...
http://www.ministry-of-information.com/the-origins-of-orwell...
People get thrown by the title, though, thinking that it's a prediction of a future dystopia while Orwell was actually writing about the world he lived in then.