Nineteen Eighty-Four is fiction.
Nineteen Eighty-Four , often published as 1984 , is a dystopian novel published in 1949 by English author George Orwell . As literary political fiction and dystopian science-fiction , Nineteen Eighty-Four is a classic novel in content , plot and style . It was awarded a place on both lists of Modern Library 100 Best Novels , reaching number 13 on the editor 's list , and 6 on the readers ' list .