In one episode of South Park, Cartman and his friends are deeply disappointed by the supposedly “controversial” content in ‘The Catcher in the Rye,’ which their teacher had assigned, proclaiming it to be provocative. Determined to show the world the true meaning of controversy, they sit down, laughing, and begin writing the most gruesome material their fourth-grade minds can conjure.
In the vast world of psychological thriller and mystery literature, truth often appears as an unclear and elusive concept. As in real life, so in literature there can be a very thin line between what is real and what is merely someone’s imagination. While in reality we have more than enough instruments for bending the truth, from political propaganda to our internal defense mechanisms, in literature there is one particular (and I would say predominant) mechanism used for twisting this thin line between imagination and reality: the unreliable narrator. This literary device has come a long way from its nascent forms in classic literature to its more complex manifestations used by modern authors. Along that path, the unreliable narrator has evolved to become a powerful tool that challenges readers’ perceptions and keeps them guessing until the very last page.
Believe it or not, I first read Orwell’s famous 1984 in 1984 itself. It’s even less believable that a 13-year-old (and yes, 13-year-olds were still considered kids back then) would be interested in Orwell at that age, but, again, believe it or not, I was. Back then, I couldn’t yet comprehend all the depths of Orwell’s thought; I experienced the book only as a brilliant work of fiction. As I grew older, however, I began to uncover layer upon layer of the book’s true essence. Later in life, I developed an interest in psychology and cybernetics, eventually graduating in both fields. Throughout this journey, I often found myself reflecting on Orwell and 1984. In the last decade, I looked at 1984 with a mixed feeling of pride and sadness. I felt pride because I believed I had “peeled off” every layer of its wisdom and uncovered all its secrets, but I was sad because I thought there was nothing more to extract from it. That was the case until very recently, when I (we) witnessed the birth of a new AI revolution in 2022.