With his nightmare visions of miscarriages of justice and petty authorities in his novel 'The Trial' Franz Kafka foresaw the powerlessness and frustration many of us feel in the face of faceless corporations and bureaucracies today. George Orwell's '1984' depicts a society where citizens are conditioned, monitored and made to live in eternal fear without protest.

In this episode of Orwell vs Kafka, Helen Lewis and Ian Hislop look at powerlessness - and why both our writers were obsessed with it.

Guests:
DJ Taylor, George Orwell biographer
Dr Karolina Watroba of All Souls College, Oxford
Professor Robert Douglas-Fairhurst of Magdalen College, Oxford

With thanks to Charles Games, makers of the “Playing Kafka” video game.

Producer: Sarah Shebbeare Show less