The Perception of George Orwell in Germany

Seminar paper from the year 2003 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,7, University of Hamburg (Institut fur Anglistik und Amerikanistik), course: Oberseminar: George Orwell, the British and the Empire, 9 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: When George Orwell’s 1984 was published about 50 years ago, heavy discussions about its content arose. While being interpreted as criticism on Stalin’s system on one side, the other side read it as a warning concerning the consequences of capitalism. In the East German Republic people have even been arrested for reading and passing on 1984. The novel has been element of English classes in German schools for many years, so Orwell’s thoughts are passed on from generation to generation. While many scientists from the US and UK analysed the truthfulness of the story in the early 1980ies, in Germany only a few texts were published about it. This work evaluates the available literature in order to find out what the people in Germany thought about 1984 when the anti-utopian future became present.