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The 1949 dystopian novel titled simply 1984, by radical British writer George Orwell is considered one of the classics of our time. Set in a grim future world ruled by war, 1984 centers on a protagonist named Winston, whose instincts for real freedom lead him to question the state propaganda that rules his society. But he does so at great risk to himself. Famous for introducing words and phrases like “newspeak,” “doublespeak,” “thought police,” and “Big Brother” into the modern political lexicon, Orwell’s book was meant as a dire warning against totalitarianism. Today the hallmarks of state totalitarianism, such as government deception, are often referred to as “Orwellian.”

Orwell’s 1984 was read in its entirety on KPFK Pacifica Radio in Los Angeles in January 1975, as part of a marathon broadcast format pioneered by Pacifica. The book was read on air by KPFK staffer Charles Morgan and well known voice-over actor June Foray, best known for playing the voice of Rocky in the show Rocky and Bullwinkle. This reading of 1984, produced by Paul Vangelisti, is one of 12 classic book readings preserved by the Pacifica Radio Archives, and part of our thank you gift to you today.

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We turn next to another classic novel that made American history – Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, which narrates in first person the life story of an African American man in the United States and his experiences with racism during the pre-civil rights era as he moved from the segregated south to New York. Invisible Man, first published in 1952, just three years after Orwell’s 1984, marked first-time writer Ralph Ellison as one of the nation’s great writers, propelling him to the best-sellers list and winning him the National Book Award.

Ellison’s writings, influenced by T.S. Elliot, James Joyce, and Fyodor Dostoevsky, challenged the prevailing assumptions of the time, presenting his unnamed protagonist as an articulate college-educated, and self-aware human being. Invisible Man was and is considered a transformative piece of American literature that questions notions of race, identity and nationality. Writer Anne Seidlitz, in analyzing his work, said “Ellison’s outlook was universal: he saw the predicament of blacks in America as a metaphor for the universal human challenge of finding a viable identity in a chaotic and sometimes indifferent world.”

A year after Ellison’s death, in June 1995, KPFK producer Roy Hurst launched a star-studded on-air reading of Invisible Man featuring actors Lawrence Fishburne, Levar Burton, Alfre Woodard, and Robert Guillaume. The reading of the entire book, complemented by the music of Duke Ellington, is also preserved in the Pacifica Radio Archives, and is part of our thank you gift to you today.

To get a copy of the complete readings of both books, call 1800-735-0230 and pledge $300 to receive a USB memory stick loaded with over 200 hours of classic books and to send a copy of these same recordings on over 20 MP3-format compact discs to a college or school campus of your choice.