h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Since Orwell wrote 1984 many of the technological and sociological predictions have become part of our everyday lives but at the time 1984 was significantly in the future (orwell named 1984 by reversing the last two numbers in the year he wrote it, 1948) my question is, is or was 1984 science fiction and does a novel cease to be science fiction once its predictions become science fact?

1984 is in no sense a work of science fiction. The purpose of the book is as an outlet for Orwell to show his disgust at totalitarian solutions to societies problems. Any sociological predictions that exist in the book are only extreme extrapolations of what had already existed in Stalin's Russia, Hitler's Germany and to some extent Churchill's Britain, during the 1930s and 40s. As for technological advances, again there are none that didn't already exist in some form or another at the time of writing.

I tend to agree but isnt all science fiction an "extreme extrapolation" of current reality, indeed by setting the scene in the future the story line is liberated from that reality. In this sense do you not think 1984 could be regarded as a science fiction novel of its time?

1984 despite its title, isn't specifically set in the future, it is a reflection of the political trends current at the time in which Orwell was writing. Furthermore Orwell was not a writer who had any respect for genre fiction, not that I think there was much (any?) decent science fiction writing around in the late 40s for him to have an opinion of. Orwell was first and foremost a political and sociological writer and to see him in any other light is a gross misinterpretation of his work. That said, I will allow that 1984 could with the benefit of hindsight be seen as a work of science fiction, it isn't, but I can understand the mistake.

Okay, let's define sci-fi then. You seem to have the wrong idea.

Real sci-fi is not about trying to predict what technology we will have in 50 years. It is about exploring what effects certain technologies could have on society and the world in general. Take Enemy of the State. It was done in a time where we have all the technology they mention. So maybe no sci-fi, more just fiction. But if somebody in the 40'ies had done it it would be. Going "Hey, I wonder what the world could end up as if the goverment had technology to listen in on every phone call, and have cameras every where to film people. Maybe I should write a book about it, to warn people." I'd say that's what the guy was doing. The tendencies to survey people and such might already have been there. But what Orwell was saying was "Fight it, or it might end up as bad as this!"

Yep, it was science fiction. Showing what effect new technologies could have on society and humanity.

What new technologies? There are no "new" technologies described anywhere in the book - TV, microphones, telephones, cine cameras, rocket propelled bombs all existed in 1948.

To quote the man himself, "My recent novel is NOT intended as an attack on Socialism or on the British Labour Party but as a show-up of the perversions to which a centralized economy is liable and which have already been partly realized in Communism and Facism."

No mention of science fiction there then.


(Note for the Mods: the extract is from a letter to Francis Henson, 16 June 1949. © Sonia Brownell Orwell, 1968)

Although it does not conform to the usual setting of science fiction, 1984 can still be counted under the genre of "science fiction", however it is primarily a piece of distopian speculative fiction. It can be counted under the sci fi genre however as it explores both an imagined future of technological advancement, and the possibility of major ramifications associated with society, power and control. I am using it as a related text in my genre study of science fiction and it fits perfectly with many of the conventions.