--- product_id: 41014422 title: "1984: The Definitive Dystopian Classic on Totalitarian Power (Authorized Orwell Edition)" price: "R723" currency: ZAR in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.co.za/products/41014422-1984-the-definitive-dystopian-classic-on-totalitarian-power-authorized-orwell store_origin: ZA region: South Africa --- # 1984: The Definitive Dystopian Classic on Totalitarian Power (Authorized Orwell Edition) **Price:** R723 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** 1984: The Definitive Dystopian Classic on Totalitarian Power (Authorized Orwell Edition) - **How much does it cost?** R723 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.co.za](https://www.desertcart.co.za/products/41014422-1984-the-definitive-dystopian-classic-on-totalitarian-power-authorized-orwell) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description 75th ANNIVERSARY EDITION “Orwell saw, to his credit, that the act of falsifying reality is only secondarily a way of changing perceptions. It is, above all, a way of asserting power.”— The New Yorker In 1984 , London is a grim city in the totalitarian state of Oceania where Big Brother is always watching you and the Thought Police can practically read your mind. Winston Smith is a man in grave danger for the simple reason that his memory still functions. Drawn into a forbidden love affair, Winston finds the courage to join a secret revolutionary organization called The Brotherhood, dedicated to the destruction of the Party. Together with his beloved Julia, he hazards his life in a deadly match against the powers that be. Lionel Trilling said of Orwell’s masterpiece “ 1984 is a profound, terrifying, and wholly fascinating book. It is a fantasy of the political future, and like any such fantasy, serves its author as a magnifying device for an examination of the present.” Though the year 1984 now exists in the past, Orwell’s dystopian classic remains an urgent call for the individual willing to speak truth to power. Review: A Timeless Classic Everyone Should Read - 1984 is one of those books that stays relevant no matter how much time passes. George Orwell tells the story of a society where the government controls information, watches every move its citizens make, and even tries to control the way people think. It’s thought-provoking, engaging, and surprisingly relatable to many issues we still discuss today, which is why it’s considered a must-read classic. I actually bought this as a gift for my boyfriend, and he absolutely loved it. He couldn’t stop talking about how well-written it is and how it makes you reflect on freedom, truth, and the power of language. As for this edition, the cover is paperback, so don’t expect a hardcover copy. However, the content is what truly matters, and this book is worth reading regardless of the format. If you’ve never read 1984, I highly recommend adding it to your collection. Review: One of the greatest novels of the 20th Century. - It’s easy to dismiss Orwell’s masterpiece as a quaint and dated dystopia, a banal nightmare of the future cobbled together in 1948 out of the dingy present and the recent past: the bombed out London of the novel looks like nothing so much as that city under the blitz. The scarcities and rationing, the war frenzy, the propaganda and paranoia required no imagination to describe. They were right in front of him. Critics use Orwell’s merciless reportorial skill as a brief against his imagination. His grim fantasy is all too realistic. It fails both as fantasy and prophesy. The titular date has come and gone, they point out. The world is not divided into three super powers perpetually at war; no telescreens invade our privacy. No all-powerful totalitarian state controls our lives, which are in fact more free and prosperous than anyone could have imagined at the bleak and dreary end of the Second World War. Of the computer and the internet, plausibly the most significant new developments since that time, Orwell had not an inkling. But this superficial reading of the book, whereby we comfort ourselves with the fact that we drink Bombay Sapphire rather than Victory Gin, is tragically naive and misguided. In fact every basic concept, every philosophical and political development Orwell addressed in his book has come to pass almost exactly as described. Orwell analyzed the way people driven by the need for power actually think. This is the most useful insight in his book, delivered by the Grand Inquisitor O’Brien: “The Party seeks power entirely for it’s own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power. Not wealth or luxury, or long life or happiness: only power, pure power … We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship to safeguard a revolution; one makes a revolution to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture … How does one man assert his power over another? … By making him suffer. Obedience is not enough. Unless he is suffering how can you be sure he is obeying your will and not his own? Power is in inflicting pain and humiliation. Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing. If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – forever.” To this bleak vision the battered and terrified Winston Smith has one reply: “Somehow you will fail. Something will defeat you. Life will defeat you.” Of course in the novel it is Winston Smith who is defeated and obliterated, after learning to love Big Brother. The story is unrelenting, a harsh tragedy in which the human spirit is crushed, and the future is too horrible to contemplate. The good guys lose. They are forced to betray their deepest beliefs and emotions, gutted of their souls and left to wander the streets like hollow eyed ghosts. Evil wins, over and over again, with a shriek of glee and blare of military music. The book ought to be profoundly depressing And yet it isn’t. Just the opposite: it’s uplifting, thrilling. It’s a form of meta-text: the fact that you are reading the book at all, the fact that the book was written and published, confounds the darkness of its message. Winston Smith knows no one will ever read his journal … but people will be reading the novel that contains it for as long as books exist. The authors of the Newspeak dictionary exult in the destruction of language; the mandarins of the inner Party continuously dismantle all passion and morality and truth. But the novel itself, with its vivid prose and ferocious probity creates an exhilaration, a giddy hope in the reader that its characters can never share. A masterpiece. Read it. If you've already read it, read it again. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #587 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #1 in Political Fiction (Books) #2 in British & Irish Humor & Satire #6 in Dystopian Fiction (Books) | | Customer Reviews | 4.6 out of 5 stars 126,446 Reviews | ## Images ![1984: The Definitive Dystopian Classic on Totalitarian Power (Authorized Orwell Edition) - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/612ADI+BVlL.jpg) ## Available Options This product comes in different **Media Language, Media Format** options. ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A Timeless Classic Everyone Should Read *by E***. on July 28, 2026* 1984 is one of those books that stays relevant no matter how much time passes. George Orwell tells the story of a society where the government controls information, watches every move its citizens make, and even tries to control the way people think. It’s thought-provoking, engaging, and surprisingly relatable to many issues we still discuss today, which is why it’s considered a must-read classic. I actually bought this as a gift for my boyfriend, and he absolutely loved it. He couldn’t stop talking about how well-written it is and how it makes you reflect on freedom, truth, and the power of language. As for this edition, the cover is paperback, so don’t expect a hardcover copy. However, the content is what truly matters, and this book is worth reading regardless of the format. If you’ve never read 1984, I highly recommend adding it to your collection. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ One of the greatest novels of the 20th Century. *by S***D on July 22, 2015* It’s easy to dismiss Orwell’s masterpiece as a quaint and dated dystopia, a banal nightmare of the future cobbled together in 1948 out of the dingy present and the recent past: the bombed out London of the novel looks like nothing so much as that city under the blitz. The scarcities and rationing, the war frenzy, the propaganda and paranoia required no imagination to describe. They were right in front of him. Critics use Orwell’s merciless reportorial skill as a brief against his imagination. His grim fantasy is all too realistic. It fails both as fantasy and prophesy. The titular date has come and gone, they point out. The world is not divided into three super powers perpetually at war; no telescreens invade our privacy. No all-powerful totalitarian state controls our lives, which are in fact more free and prosperous than anyone could have imagined at the bleak and dreary end of the Second World War. Of the computer and the internet, plausibly the most significant new developments since that time, Orwell had not an inkling. But this superficial reading of the book, whereby we comfort ourselves with the fact that we drink Bombay Sapphire rather than Victory Gin, is tragically naive and misguided. In fact every basic concept, every philosophical and political development Orwell addressed in his book has come to pass almost exactly as described. Orwell analyzed the way people driven by the need for power actually think. This is the most useful insight in his book, delivered by the Grand Inquisitor O’Brien: “The Party seeks power entirely for it’s own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power. Not wealth or luxury, or long life or happiness: only power, pure power … We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship to safeguard a revolution; one makes a revolution to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture … How does one man assert his power over another? … By making him suffer. Obedience is not enough. Unless he is suffering how can you be sure he is obeying your will and not his own? Power is in inflicting pain and humiliation. Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing. If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – forever.” To this bleak vision the battered and terrified Winston Smith has one reply: “Somehow you will fail. Something will defeat you. Life will defeat you.” Of course in the novel it is Winston Smith who is defeated and obliterated, after learning to love Big Brother. The story is unrelenting, a harsh tragedy in which the human spirit is crushed, and the future is too horrible to contemplate. The good guys lose. They are forced to betray their deepest beliefs and emotions, gutted of their souls and left to wander the streets like hollow eyed ghosts. Evil wins, over and over again, with a shriek of glee and blare of military music. The book ought to be profoundly depressing And yet it isn’t. Just the opposite: it’s uplifting, thrilling. It’s a form of meta-text: the fact that you are reading the book at all, the fact that the book was written and published, confounds the darkness of its message. Winston Smith knows no one will ever read his journal … but people will be reading the novel that contains it for as long as books exist. The authors of the Newspeak dictionary exult in the destruction of language; the mandarins of the inner Party continuously dismantle all passion and morality and truth. But the novel itself, with its vivid prose and ferocious probity creates an exhilaration, a giddy hope in the reader that its characters can never share. A masterpiece. Read it. If you've already read it, read it again. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ An ever-relevant and classic read *by W***L on June 11, 2026* The story is bleak, from start to finish - it can’t read any other way, and I love the book for that reason. It’s a timeless narrative that showcases the dangers of a totalitarian regime. It’s a book everyone should read at some point. My biggest gripe is the pacing and the slowness of the story - so much dialogue and narrative is repeated and the story, at times, gets boring and repetitive. This doesn’t take much away from the novel, it’s a beautifully written piece of work that still holds up as one of the best ever written. ## Frequently Bought Together - 1984 - Animal Farm - Fahrenheit 451 --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.co.za/products/41014422-1984-the-definitive-dystopian-classic-on-totalitarian-power-authorized-orwell](https://www.desertcart.co.za/products/41014422-1984-the-definitive-dystopian-classic-on-totalitarian-power-authorized-orwell) --- *Product available on Desertcart South Africa* *Store origin: ZA* *Last updated: 2026-10-20*