Sales of Orwell’s dystopian novel “1984” in Russia rose by 54% in a month and by 81% over the year, ...

Sales of Orwell’s dystopian novel “1984” in Russia rose by 54% in a month and by 81% over the year, the Chitai-Gorod bookstore chain reported.

Since 2022, sales of “1984” in Russia have been steadily growing in jumps, with each new surge coinciding with political and military crises, and by 2026 the novel is already among the hits not only in sales but also in shoplifting from stores.

The 2022 jump and the subsequent sales spikes correlate with the start and continuation of the war in Ukraine, as well as the tightening of censorship, repression, and propaganda.

\️⃣Experts directly link interest in the novel to readers’ attempts to make sense of contemporary Russian reality through the image of the totalitarian state of Oceania.

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