Nineteen Eighty-four is fiction.
Nineteen Eighty-Four . The protagonist of the novel , Winston Smith , is a member of the Outer Party , who works for the Ministry of Truth ( or Minitrue in Newspeak ) , which is responsible for propaganda and historical revisionism . The heroine of the novel , Julia , is based on Orwell 's second wife , Sonia 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 .