英国著名作家乔治·奥威尔的这部战时时名著包括两部分：“战时日记”和“战时通信”，前者是奥威尔在任英国BBC电台东方部记者期间所写的一本独特的日记，后者是奥威尔在第二次世界大战期间的书信摘选。他以高超的叙述技巧，在日记和书信中既抒发了对战争的反思，又披露了很多鲜为人知的战争内幕，对战争的残酷性、战争中普通人的命运与选择等都有独特的思考。作者文笔优美，识见独特而深刻，所以这些日记和书信不但具有很高的文学价值，而且有不可替代的史料价值。

The year 1984 has come and gone, but George Orwell's prophetic, nightmarish vision in 1949 of the world we were becoming is timelier than ever. 1984 ...more [close] The year 1984 has come and gone, but George Orwell's prophetic, nightmarish vision in 1949 of the world we were becoming is timelier than ever. 1984 is still the great modern classic of "negative utopia"--a startlingly original and haunting novel that creates an imaginary world that is completely convincing, from the first sentence to the last four words. No one can deny the novel's hold on the imaginations of the whole generations, or the power of its admonitions--a power that seem to grow, not lessen, with the passage of time.