Russia's Bestselling Novel of the Year is '1984'

Russia's Online Bookstore 'LitRes' Novel Ranked 1st in Downloads, 2nd Overall
Inspired by Stalin... Russia Claims It Depicts "The End of Western Liberalism"

George Orwell's novel '1984'. Photo by EPA Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyunjung] George Orwell's novel "1984," regarded as a masterpiece of dystopian fiction, ranked first in the novel category bestseller list in Russia this year.

According to Russian state news agency TASS and others on the 14th (local time), the Russian online bookstore "LitRes" compiled the number of book downloads this year, and "1984" achieved a high ranking as number one in the novel category and second overall.

Published in 1949 by British novelist Orwell, "1984" depicts a fictional totalitarian society strictly controlled by a figure of power called "Big Brother." However, Big Brother never appears in the novel. The existence of Big Brother is ambiguous, and his statements are continuously recorded by the Ministry of Truth's Records Department, while the Party's teachings are injected into Party members 24 hours a day through a medium called the "telescreen."

The title "1984" was set as the temporal background of the then distant future year 1984 from the perspective of 1949 when Orwell published the novel. There is also a theory that Orwell wrote "84" by reversing the digits of "48," the year he wrote the work in 1948. Orwell is known to have been inspired by Joseph Stalin, the dictator of the Soviet Union (former USSR), when writing "1984." The novel was banned in the former Soviet Union until 1988.

Why did this classic, published 73 years ago, suddenly become the bestseller number one this year? Russian and foreign media offer completely opposite interpretations. Reuters suggested that the reason "1984" has attracted attention in Russia this year is because the work reminds people of President Putin, who has controlled opposition and critical public opinion for the past 20 years.

In the novel, the state or Party not only leads the surveillance of citizens' daily lives but also carries out wiretapping, eavesdropping, document censorship, and historical distortion without hesitation. This naturally leads to torture, detention, human rights oppression, and ideological education, and these depictions in the novel are not very different from the current situation in Russia.

On the other hand, Russia views "1984" not as a critique of Stalin's dictatorship but as a criticism of Western liberal democracy. Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated, "For years, we thought Orwell depicted totalitarianism, but this is global misinformation," and claimed, "Orwell portrayed the end of liberalism." She added, "Orwell did not depict the Soviet Union but rather the way liberalism in the society he lived in (Western countries) was heading into a dead end." Darya Chelovalnikova, the Russian translator of "1984," echoed the Russian government's interpretation, saying, "What Orwell criticized was the totalitarianism that could arise in the West."

Russia maintains this perspective, so it has not designated "1984" as a banned book, and the state media TASS is leading the announcement of "1984" ranking first in the country's bestseller list.

Meanwhile, there is a country that has banned "1984." It is Belarus, Russia's closest ally and known as "Europe's last dictatorship." In May, the Belarusian government ordered the suspension of all sales of "1984" editions and also commanded the recall of the publisher's remaining stock. Local media Nasha Niva reported that a publisher official who translated and published the book was detained by security forces.

The Belarusian translation of "1984" was first published in 1992. The book was so popular that it was reissued twice in 2020 and last year, reportedly ranking fourth on the bestseller list. Nasha Niva commented that this reflected how the people perceive what is happening in their country.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.