1984

And the Records Department, after all (в конце концов), was itself only a single branch (подразделение) of the Ministry of Truth, whose primary (основной) job was not to reconstruct the past but to supply (снабжать) the citizens of Oceania with newspapers, films, textbooks, telescreen programmes, plays, novels – with every conceivable (мыслимый) kind of information, instruction, or entertainment, from a statue to a slogan, from a lyric poem to a biological treatise (трактат), and from a child’s spelling-book (детская книжка по правописанию) to a Newspeak dictionary. And the Ministry had (пришлось) not only to supply (удовлетворять) the multifarious (разнообразный) needs of the party, but also to repeat the whole operation at a lower level for the benefit of the proletariat. There was a whole chain (цепочка) of separate departments dealing (занимавшийся) with proletarian literature, music, drama, and entertainment generally. Here were produced rubbishy (дрянный) newspapers containing almost nothing except sport, crime and astrology, sensational five-cent novelettes (новеллы), films oozing (пропитанный) with sex, and sentimental songs which were composed entirely (исключительно) by mechanical means on a special kind of kaleidoscope known as a versificator. There was even a whole sub-section – Pornosec, it was called in Newspeak —engaged in producing the lowest kind of pornography, which was sent out (рассылался) in sealed (запечатанный) packets (пакеты) and which no Party member, other than those who worked on it, was permitted (разрешалось) to look at. Three messages had slid out (выскользнул) of the pneumatic tube while Winston was working, but they were simple matters, and he had disposed (избавился) of them before the Two Minutes Hate interrupted (прервал) him. When the Hate was over he returned to his cubicle, took the Newspeak dictionary from the shelf (полка), pushed (отодвинул) the speakwrite to one side, cleaned his spectacles, and settled down (приступил) to his main job of the morning.

Winston’s greatest pleasure in life was in his work. Most of it was a tedious (утомительный) routine, but included in it there were also jobs so difficult and intricate (запутанный) that you could lose yourself in them as in the depths (глубины) of a mathematical problem – delicate pieces (куски) of forgery (подделка) in which you had nothing to guide (чтобы направлять) you except your knowledge of the principles of Ingsoc and your estimate of what the Party wanted you to say. Winston was good at this kind of thing. On occasion (по случаю) he had even been entrusted with the rectification of «The Times’ leading articles, which were written entirely (полностью) in Newspeak. He unrolled (развернул) the message that he had set aside (отложил) earlier. It ran:

times 3.12.83 reporting (отчет) bb dayorder (дневной порядок) doubleplusungood (вдвойне хорошо) refs unpersons (неперсоны) rewrite (переписать) fullwise (полный мудрый) upsub () antefiling (противообрастающий)

In Oldspeak (or standard English) this might be rendered (передан):

The reporting (сообщение) of Big Brother’s Order for the Day in «The Times’ of December 3rd 1983 is extremely (крайне) unsatisfactory and makes references (ссылки) to non-existent persons. Rewrite it in full and submit (отправьте) your draft (черновик) to higher authority before filing (подача заявки).

Winston read through the offending (оскорбительный) article. Big Brother’s Order for the Day, it seemed, had been chiefly (в основном) devoted to praising (восхваление) the work of an organization known as FFCC, which supplied (поставлял) cigarettes and other comforts to the sailors in the Floating Fortresses. A certain (некий) Comrade Withers, a prominent (видный) member of the Inner Party, had been singled (отмечен) out for special mention and awarded a decoration (награжден орденом), the Order ofConspicuous (бросающийся в глаза) Merit (заслуги), Second Class.

Three months later FFCC had suddenly been dissolved (распущен) with no reasons given (без объяснения причин). One could assume (предположить) that Withers and his associates were now in disgrace, but there had been no report of the matter (никаких сообщений по этому поводу) in the Press or on the telescreen. That was to be expected (этого следовало ожидать), since (поскольку) it was unusual for political offenders (преступников) to be put (предстать) on trial (суд) or even publicly denounced (осудить). The great purges (чистки) involving thousands of people, with public trials of traitors and thought-criminals who made abject (униженный) confession (признание) of their crimes and were afterwards (впоследствии) executed (казнен), were special show-pieces (зрелища) not occurring (происходящий) oftener (чаще) than once in a couple of years. More commonly (чаще всего), people who had incurred (навлек на себя) the displeasure of the Party simply disappeared and were never heard of again. One never had the smallest clue (ключ) as to what had happened to them. In some cases they might not even be dead. Perhaps thirty people personally known to Winston, not counting (считая) his parents, had disappeared at one time or another. 24

Winston stroked (погладил) his nose gently (нежно) with a paper-clip (скрепка для бумаг). In the cubicle across the way Comrade Tillotson was still crouching secretively (скрытно) over his speakwrite. He raised his head for a moment: again the hostile (враждебный) spectacle-flash (зрелище – вспышка). Winston wondered (задался) whether Comrade Tillotson was engaged on the same job as himself. It was perfectly possible. So tricky (сложный) a piece of work would never be entrusted (доверил) to a single person: on the other hand, to turn (передать) it over to a committee would be to admit (признать) openly that an act of fabrication (фальсификация) was taking place. Very likely as many as a dozen people were now working away on rival (конкурирующий) versions of what Big Brother had actually said. And presently (вскоре) some master brain (мозг) in the Inner (внутренний) Party would select this version or that, would re-edit it and set in motion (приведенный в движение) the complex processes of cross-referencing (перекрестные ссылки) that would be required (потребовался), and then the chosen (выбранный) lie would pass into the permanent records and become truth.

Winston did not know why Withers had been disgraced (опозорен). Perhaps it was for corruption or incompetence. Perhaps Big Brother was merely getting rid (избавлялся) of a too-popular subordinate (подчиненный). Perhaps Withers or someone (кого-то) close (близкий) to him had been suspected (подозревал) of heretical tendencies (наклонности). Or perhaps – what was likeliest (вероятно) of all – the thing had simply happened because purges (чистки) and vaporizations (испарения) were a necessary part of the mechanics of government. The only real clue (зацепка) lay in the words «refs unpersons’ («судьи без лица»), which indicated that Withers was already dead. You could not invariably (неизменно) assume (предполагать) this to be the case when people were arrested. Sometimes they were released (выпущенный) and allowed (разрешалось) to remain at liberty for as much as a year or two years before being executed (казнил). Very occasionally (очень редко) some person whom you had believed dead long since would make a ghostly (призрачно) reappearance (повторное появление) at some public trial where he would implicate (уличал) hundreds of others by his testimony (показание) before vanishing (исчезновение), his time for ever. Withers, however, was already an UNPERSON (НЕЛЮДЬ). He did not exist: he had never existed. Winston decided that it would not be enough simply to reverse (обратить вспять) the tendency of Big Brother’s speech. It was better to make it deal (Было бы лучше) with something totally unconnected with its original subject (тема).

He might turn the speech into the usual denunciation (осуждение) of traitors and thought-criminals, but that was a little too obvious (очевидно), while to invent (выдумать) a victory at the front, or some triumph of over-production in the Ninth Three-Year Plan, might complicate (усложнить) the records too much. What was needed was a piece of pure (чистый) fantasy. Suddenly there sprang (возник) into his mind, ready made as it were (так сказать, готовы), the image of a certain Comrade Ogilvy, who had recently (недавно) died in battle, in heroic circumstances (обстоятельства).There were occasions (случаи) when Big Brother devoted his Order for the Day to commemorating (увековечивающий) some humble (скромный), rank-and-file Party member whose life and death he held up as an example worthy (достойный) to be followed. Today he should commemorate (почтить память) Comrade Ogilvy. It was true that there was no such person as Comrade Ogilvy, but a few lines of print and a couple of faked (поддельный) photographs would soon bring him into existence. 25

Winston thought for a moment (на мгновение), then pulled the speakwrite towards him and began dictating in Big Brother’s familiar (знакомый) style: a style at once (одновременно) military and pedantic, and, because of a trick (хитрость) of asking questions and then promptly (быстро) answering them («What lessons do we learn from this fact, comrades? The lesson – which is also one of the fundamental principles of Ingsoc – that,» etc., etc.), easy to imitate (подражать).

At the age of three Comrade Ogilvy had refused all toys (игрушка) except a drum (барабан), a sub-machine gun (пистолет-пулемет), and a model helicopter. At six – a year early, by a special relaxation (смягчение) of the rules – he had joined the Spies (шпионы), at nine he had been a troop (отряд) leader. At eleven he had denounced his uncle to the Thought Police after overhearing a conversation (разговор) which appeared to him (как ему показалось) to have criminal tendencies (наклонности). At seventeen he had been a district organizer of the Junior Anti-Sex League. At nineteen he had designed (сконструировал) a hand-grenade (ручная граната) which had been adopted by the Ministry of Peace and which, at its first trial (испытание), had killed thirty-one Eurasian prisoners in one burst (взрыв). At twenty-three he had perished in action (погиб в бою). Pursued (преследуемый) by enemy jet (реактивный) planes while flying over the Indian Ocean with important despatches (донесения), he had weighted (утяжелил) his body with his machine gun and leapt out (выпрыгнул) of the helicopter into deep water, despatches and all – an end, said Big Brother, which it was impossible to contemplate (смотреть) without feelings of envy (зависть). Big Brother added a few remarks on the purity (чистота) and single-mindedness (целеустремленность) of Comrade Ogilvy’s life. He was a total abstainer and a nonsmoker (некурящий), had no recreations (развлечения) except a daily hour in the gymnasium, and had taken a vow of celibacy, believing marriage and the care of a family to be incompatible (несовместимый) with a twenty-four-houra-day devotion (преданность) to duty. He had no subjects (темы) of conversation (разговор) except the principles of Ingsoc, and no aim in life except the defeat (разгром) of the Eurasian enemy and the hunting-down (охота) of spies, saboteurs, thoughtcriminals, and traitors generally. Winston debated with himself whether to award (награждать) Comrade Ogilvy the Order of Conspicuous Merit: in the end he decided against it because of the unnecessary cross-referencing (перекрестные ссылки) that it would entail (повлекло бы за собой). 26 27

Once again he glanced at his rival (соперник) in the opposite cubicle. Something seemed to tell him with certainty that Tillotson was busy on the same job as himself. There was no way of knowing whose job would finally be adopted (принята), but he felt a profound (глубокий) conviction (убеждение) that it would be his own. Comrade Ogilvy, unimagined an hour ago, was now a fact. It struck (поразил) him as curious (любопытный) that you could create dead men but not living ones. Comrade Ogilvy, who had never existed in the present, now existed in the past, and when once the act of forgery (подделка) was forgotten, he would exist just as (так же) authentically (достоверно), and upon the same evidence, as Charlemagne (Карл Великий) or Julius Caesar (Юлий Цезарь).

Chapter 5

In the low-ceilinged (с низким потолком) canteen (столовая), deep underground, the lunch queue (очередь) jerked (продвигался) slowly forward. The room was already very full and deafeningly (оглушительно) noisy. From the grille (решетка) at the counter (стойка) the steam (пар) of stew (тушенное мясо) came pouring (валил) forth (наружу), with a sour metallic smell (запах) which did not quite overcome (перебивал) the fumes (пары) of Victory Gin (джин). On the far side of the room there was a small bar, a mere hole (дырка) in the wall, where gin could be bought at ten cents the large nip (порция).

«Just the man I was looking for,» said a voice at Winston’s back.

He turned round. It was his friend Syme, who worked in the Research (исследовательский) Department. Perhaps «friend’ was not exactly (вполне) the right word. You did not have friends nowadays, you had comrades: but there were some comrades whose society was pleasanter (приятнее) than that of others. Syme was a philologist, a specialist in Newspeak. Indeed, he was one of the enormous team of experts now engaged in compiling (составление) the Eleventh Edition of the Newspeak Dictionary. He was a tiny (крошечный) creature (существо), smaller than Winston, with dark hair and large, protuberant (выпуклый) eyes, at once (одновременно) mournful (печальный) and derisive (насмешливый), which seemed to search your face closely while he was speaking to you.

«I wanted to ask you whether you’d got any razor (бритвенный) blades (лезвия),» he said.

«Not one!» said Winston with a sort of guilty (виноватый) haste (поспешность).

«I’ve tried (перепробовал) all over the place. They don’t exist any longer.»

Everyone kept asking you for razor blades. Actually he had two unused ones which he was hoarding up (копил). There had been a famine (голод) of them for months past. At any given moment there was some necessary article (товар) which the Party shops were unable to supply (поставлять). Sometimes it was buttons (пуговицы), sometimes it was darning (штопка) wool (шерсть), sometimes it was shoelaces (шнурки для ботинок); at present it was razor blades. You could only get hold (заполучить) of them, if at all, by scrounging (добывание) more or less furtively (украдкой) on the «free’ market.

«I’ve been using the same blade for six weeks,» he added untruthfully (неправдиво). The queue (очередь) gave another jerk (рывок) forward. As they halted (остановился) he turned and faced Syme again. Each of them took a greasy (засаленный) metal tray (поднос) from a pile (стопка) at the end of the counter (стойка).

«Did you go and see the prisoners hanged yesterday?» said Syme.

«I was working,» said Winston indifferently. «I shall see it on the flicks (фильмы), I suppose (полагаю).»

«A very inadequate (неадекватный) substitute (замена),» said Syme.

His mocking (насмешливый) eyes roved over (блуждал) Winston’s face. «I know you,» the eyes seemed to say, «I see through you. I know very well why you didn’t go to see those prisoners hanged.» In an intellectual way, Syme was venomously (ядовито) orthodox. He would talk with a disagreeable gloating (неприятный, злорадный) satisfaction of helicopter raids on enemy villages, and trials and confessions (признания) of thought-criminals, the executions in the cellars (подвалы) of the Ministry of Love. Talking to him was largely (в значительной степени) a matter of getting (вопрос получения) him away from such subjects and entangling (запутывание) him, if possible, in the technicalities (технические тонкости) of Newspeak, on which he was authoritative and interesting. Winston turned his head a little aside to avoid (избежать) the scrutiny (взгляд) of the large dark eyes.

«It was a good hanging (повешение),» said Syme reminiscently (воспоминающе). «I think it spoils (портит) it when they tie (связывают) their feet together. I like to see them kicking (брыкаются). And above all (и самое главное), at the end, the tongue (язык) sticking (торчит) right out, and blue – a quite bright blue. That’s the detail that appeals (импонирует) to me.»

«Nex’ („Некс“), please!» yelled (крикнул) the white-aproned (в белом фартуке) prole (пролетарий) with the ladle (половник).

Winston and Syme pushed (просунул) their trays (подносы) beneath the grille (решетка). On to each was dumped (выложен) swiftly (быстро) the regulation lunch – a metal pannikin (миска) of pinkish-grey (розовато-серый) stew (тушенка), a hunk (ломоть) of bread, a cube of cheese, a mug (кружка) of milkless Victory Coffee, and one saccharine tablet.

«There’s a table over there, under that telescreen,» said Syme. «Let’s pick up (взять) a gin on the way.

«The gin was served out (подан) to them in handleless (без ручек) china mugs (кружки). They threaded (продеть) their way across the crowded room and unpacked (распаковал) their trays (подносы) on to the metal-topped (металлическая столешница) table, on one corner of which someone had left (оставил) a pool (лужа) of stew (тушеное мясо), a filthy (грязный) liquid (жидкий) mess (месиво) that had the appearance of vomit (рвота). Winston took up (взял) his mug of gin, paused for an instant (на мгновение) to collect his nerve (дух), and gulped (залпом выпил) the oily-tasting (маслянистый на вкус) stuff (жидкость) down. When he had winked (сморгнул) the tears (слезы) out of his eyes he suddenly discovered that he was hungry. He began swallowing (поглощать) spoonfuls (ложки) of the stew (рагу), which, in among its general sloppiness (неряшливость), had cubes (кубики) of spongy (губчатый) pinkish (розоватый) stuff (масса) which was probably a preparation of meat. Neither of them (никто из них) spoke again till they had emptied (опустошил) their pannikins (миски). From the table at Winston’s left, a little behind his back, someone was talking rapidly and continuously (непрерывно), a harsh (резкий) gabble (лепет) almost like the quacking (кряканье) of a duck (утка), which pierced (прорезал) the general uproar (шум) of the room.

«How is the Dictionary getting on (продвигается работа)?» said Winston, raising his voice to overcome the noise.

«Slowly,» said Syme. «I’m on the adjectives (прилагательное). It’s fascinating (завораживает).»

He had brightened up (просветлел) immediately at the mention of Newspeak. He pushed his pannikin (кастрюля) aside, took up his hunk (ломоть) of bread in one delicate hand and his cheese in the other, and leaned (перегнулся) across the table so as to be able to speak without shouting.

«The Eleventh Edition is the definitive (окончательный) edition,» he said. «We’re getting (придать) the language into its final shape (форма) – the shape it’s going to have when nobody speaks anything else. When we’ve finished with it, people like you will have to learn it all over again. You think, I dare (осмелюсь) say, that our chief job is inventing (изобретать) new words. But not a bit (капелька) of it! We’re destroying words – scores (многие) of them, hundreds of them, every day. We’re cutting (сокращаем) the language down to the bone (кость). The Eleventh Edition won’t contain (содержать) a single word that will become obsolete (устареть) before the year 2050.»

He bit (немного) hungrily into his bread and swallowed (проглотил) a couple of mouthfuls (куски), then continued speaking, with a sort of pedant’s passion (страсть). His thin (худое) dark face had become animated (оживился), his eyes had lost their mocking (насмешливый) expression and grown almost dreamy.

«It’s a beautiful thing, the destruction of words. Of course the great wastage (потеря) is in the verbs and adjectives, but there are hundreds of nouns that can got rid (избавиться) of as well. It isn’t only the synonyms; there are also the antonyms. After all (в конце концов), what justification (оправдание) is there for a word which is simply the opposite of some other word? A word contains its opposite in itself. Take «good’, for instance (к примеру). If you have a word like «good’, what need is there for a word like «bad’? «Ungood’ will do just as well (подойдет так же хорошо) – better, because it’s an exact (полный) opposite, which the other is not. Or again, if you want a stronger version of «good’, what sense is there in having a whole string (строка) of vague (неопределенный) useless words like «excellent’ («превосходно») and «splendid’ («великолепно») and all the rest of them? «Plusgood’ covers (охватывает) the meaning, or «doubleplusgood’ if you want something stronger still. Of лcourse we use those forms already. but in the final version of Newspeak there’ll be nothing else. In the end the whole notion (понятие) of goodness and badness will be covered by only six words – in reality, only one word. Don’t you see the beauty of that, Winston? It was B.B.’s idea originally, of course,» he added as an afterthought (немного).

A sort of vapid (вялый) eagerness (рвение) flitted (промелькнул) across Winston’s face at the mention of Big Brother. Nevertheless (тем не менее) Syme immediately detected (обнаружил) a certain lack (отсутствие) of enthusiasm.

«You haven’t a real appreciation (понимание) of Newspeak, Winston,» he said almost sadly. «Even when you write it you’re still thinking in Oldspeak. I’ve read some of those pieces (куски) that you write in «The Times’ occasionally (иногда). They’re good enough, but they’re translations. In your heart (душа) you’d prefer (предпочел бы) to stick (придерживаться) to Oldspeak, with all its vagueness (расплывчатость) and its useless shades (оттенки) of meaning (смысл). You don’t grasp (понимать) the beauty of the destruction of words. Do you know that Newspeak is the only language in the world whose vocabulary gets (получает) smaller every year?»

Winston did know that, of course. He smiled, sympathetically he hoped, not trusting (доверяя) himself to speak. Syme bit off (откусил) another fragment of the dark-coloured bread, chewed (прожевал) it briefly (быстро), and went on:

«Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow (сузить) the range (диапазон) of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally (буквально) impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it. Every concept (концепция) that can ever be needed, will be expressed by exactly (ровно) one word, with its meaning rigidly (жестко) defined (определенный) and all its subsidiary (вспомогательный) meanings rubbed out (стерты) and forgotten. Already, in the Eleventh Edition, we’re not far from that point. But the process will still be continuing long after you and I are dead. Every year fewer (меньше) and fewer words, and the range of consciousness always a little smaller. Even now, of course, there’s no reason or excuse for committing (совершение) thoughtcrime. It’s merely a question of self-discipline, reality-control. But in the end there won’t be any need even for that. The Revolution will be complete when the language is perfect. Newspeak is Ingsoc and Ingsoc is Newspeak,» he added with a sort of mystical satisfaction. «Has it ever occurred (когда-нибудь приходил в голову) to you, Winston, that by the year 2050, at the very latest (самое позднее), not a single human being (существо) will be alive who could understand such a conversation as we are having now?»

«Except —’ began Winston doubtfully, and he stopped.

It had been on the tip (кончик) of his tongue (язык) to say «Except the proles,» but he checked himself (сдержался), not feeling fully certain that this remark was not in some way (не был в некотором роде) unorthodox. Syme, however, had divined what he was about to say (собирался сказать). «The proles are not human beings,» he said carelessly (небрежно). «By 2050 – earlier, probably – all real knowledge of Oldspeak will have disappeared. The whole literature of the past will have been destroyed. Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Byron – they’ll exist only in Newspeak versions, not merely changed into something different, but actually changed into something contradictory of what they used to be. Even the literature of the Party will change. Even the slogans will change. How could you have a slogan like «freedom is slavery’ when the concept of freedom has been abolished? The whole climate of thought will be different. In fact there will be no thought, as we understand it now. Orthodoxy means not thinking – not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness. 28