'Nineteen Eighty-Four is a dystopian fiction portraying a society ruled by an oligarchical dictatorship. The Oceanian province of Airstrip One is a world of perpetual war, through government surveillance and continuous public mind control. Oceania is ruled by a political party, simply called the Party. The individual is always subordinated to the state and this philosophy allows the Party to manipulate and control humanity. In the Ministry of Truth, protagonist Winston Smith is a civil servant responsible for perpetuating the Party's propaganda by revising historical records to render the Party omniscient and always correct. Notwithstanding, his meager existence disillusions him to the point of seeking rebellion against Big Brother.
It can be regarded as a literary political fiction. The novel has been translated into more than 70 languages. In 1998, the Modern Library ranked Nineteen Eighty-Four 13th on its List of Best 20th Century Novels in English.'