Which novel by George Orwell is set in the totalitarian state of Oceania?

George Orwell’s novel set in the totalitarian state of Oceania is “Nineteen Eighty-Four.” Published in 1949, the dystopian novel follows Winston Smith, a low-ranking Party member living in Airstrip One, the name given to Great Britain within Oceania.

Oceania is one of three superstates locked in seemingly endless war. Its government, led symbolically by Big Brother, controls citizens through telescreens, propaganda, historical revision, and the Thought Police. Winston’s work at the Ministry of Truth involves altering old records so that the past always agrees with the Party’s current claims. The novel explores surveillance, censorship, political language, and the destruction of individual thought.

The title is also commonly written as “1984,” but “Nineteen Eighty-Four” is the original title and the stored answer is canonical. “Animal Farm,” another Orwell novel, is also political and authoritarian in theme, which makes it a plausible distractor, but its setting is an allegorical farm rather than Oceania.