‘This version has a trigger warning’: New foreword for George Orwell’s ‘1984’ divides audiences

1984 - 75th Anniversary Edition by George Orwell. (Penguin Random House)

The literature community has erupted into eloquently articulated chaos after a new foreword written for the novel 1984 by George Orwell provided a warning for readers looking at the book through a modern lens.

The new foreword, written by American author Dolen Perkins-Valdez for the 75th anniversary edition release, was endorsed by Orwell’s estate and published by Berkley Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House.

1984 explores the life of Winston Smith, a minor bureaucrat who decides to rebel against the authorities with Julia, another party member.

Perkins-Valdez wrote that she was looking at the novel through the lens of a new reader, entering “the Orwellian universe for the first time.” She goes on to call the protagonist Smith’s views on women “despicable to the contemporary reader,” adding the character is “problematic” and “guilty of more than just thoughtcrime.”

However, Perkins-Valdez eventually says that Orwell’s portrayal of deep-rooted misogyny is to highlight the issues in totalitarian societies in the novel.

“Somehow I have managed to discover a way to enter 1984 (75 years) after its initial publication and find new appreciation for it, new love for it,” Perkins-Valdez wrote.

‘This version of 1984 has a trigger warning’

Perkins-Valdez’s foreword has provoked some backlash.

“We’re getting somebody to actually convict George Orwell himself of thoughtcrime in the introduction to his book about thoughtcrime,” Walter Kirn, a novelist and critic, said on America This Week, a podcast hosted by journalist Matt Taibbi. “We’re not yet in a world where books and classic books are being excised or eliminated.”

He called it “the most 1984-ish thing” he ever read.

“This version of 1984 has a trigger warning!”

Kirn went on to say that this foreword served as a “Ministry of Truth-ism,” referring to the Ministry of Truth from the novel.

“They’re giving you a little guidebook to say, ‘Here’s how you’re supposed to feel when you read this,’” he said.

‘Shallow reading’

A Reddit thread posted on r/literature brought together critics and more to discuss the new addition to the novel.

Reddit user YakSlothLemon called it a “shallow reading.”

“Shouldn’t the place of a foreword be partly to help readers understand the context of what they will encounter in the book, rather than simply slapping the current standards of uninformed readers onto a book almost a century old?” they wrote.

Another Reddit user named Grin_N_Bare_Arms agreed.

“Understanding Winston’s thoughts and feelings allows us to get to one of the root causes of misogyny, especially the type of misogyny that thrives in a lot of highly repressive religious communities,” they wrote.

Other Reddit users have come to the defence of Perkins-Valdez’s comments.

One user named Maleficent_Sector619 argued that it should be acceptable to say certain things about the characters’ behaviours – like them being “problematic” – after the passage of time.

“I think it’s fine to mention that one character in a book from over fifty years ago may have some unpleasant thoughts about women (you could also argue that that was what Orwell intended),” they wrote.

Another user named Brodernist pointed out that an introduction which talks about historical context and changing views is not the same as punishing thoughtcrimes.

“Drawing attention to those characters in the introduction feels like the opposite of punished thoughtcrimes,” they wrote.