1984: The Myth and the Moment

Since George Orwell’s 1949 publication of Nineteen Eight-Four, the year 1984 has loomed large in our imagination. We delve into this year as both an idea and a watershed moment. Historically, it was the year of the Space Shuttle Discovery’s maiden voyage; ongoing famine in Ethiopia; the continuing Cold War; the Macintosh computer; and the shooting of four African-American teenagers on the New York subway. Culturally, 1984 brought us Ghostbusters and The Terminator; Louise Erdrich’s Love Medicine and Milan Kundera’s The Unbearable Lightness of Being; Prince's Purple Rain; the creation of Tetris; and the rise of the infomercial. By focusing on a single year, we consider how culture and politics intertwine in an unfolding history, and how myths animate lived experience. Works by Erdrich, Kundera, John Edgar Wideman, Jayne Anne Phillips, Martin Amis, in addition to film, television, and music.