Foreword "Novelists Should Not Be Altogether Trusted"

[Dave Monroe]

   "Besides the ambivalence within the Left as to
Soviet realities, other opportunities for doublethink
in action arose in the wake of World War II.  In its
moments of euphoria, the winning side was making, in
Orwell's view, mistakes as fatal as any made by teh
Treaty of Versailles after World War I.  Despite the
most honorable intentions, in practice the present
division of spoils among the former Allies carried the
potential for fatal mischief.  Orwell's uneasiness
over the 'peace' in fact is one major subtext of 1984.
   "'What it is really meant to do," Orwell wrote to
his publisher at the end of 1984 ... 'is to discuss
the implications of dividing the world up into 'Zones
of Influence' (I thought of it in 1944 as a result of
the Teheran Conference) ...'
   "Well, of course novelists should not be altogether
trusted as to the sources of their inspiration.  But
the imaginative procedure bears looking at.  The
Teheran XConference was the first summit meeting of
World War II, taking place late in 1943, with
Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin in attendance.  Among
the topics they discussed was how, once Nazi Germany
was defeated, the Allies would divide it up into zones
of occupation....  In imaging Oceania, Eurasia and
Eastasia, Orwell seems to have made a leap in scale
from the Teheran talks, projecting the occupation of a
defeated country into that of a defeated world." 
("Foreword," pp. xiii-xiv) 

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