Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

2. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

3. Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) • British writer—novelist, poet, essayist, film writer • Son of schoolteacher and writer • Critical observer of world around him, particularly of accepted norms and traditions • Troubled childhood • Mother died when he was 14 • Brother killed himself • Aldous himself contracted an illness that left him virtually blind • Studied at Balliol College (Oxford) • Friends with D.H. Lawrence • Need for money led him to literary pursuits

4. Huxley Cont’d • Wrote first novel at age of 20 • Became a poet, journalist, and art critic in his early 20s • Traveled a great deal within Europe, shaping his view of world and society • Concerned about changes occurring in Western civilization • Concerned about technological advances and power structures within society • Influenced by ideas of behaviorism • Wrote against war and nationalism

5. Brave New World • Huxley wrote it in four months • Written prior to Hitler’s reign in Germany and Stalin’s purges • Showed foresight in describing a dictatorial future • The future society Huxley created in BNW: • Use of genetics and cloning for control • Children conceived in test tubes • Genetic conditioning for societal hierarchy (classes) • “Perfect” dictatorship appears democratic but is actually stifling, creating prisoners of its citizens • Source: The European Graduate School (www.egs.edu/library/aldous-huxley/biography/)

6. Pre-reading Questions • In what ways was Huxley similar to Orwell? • In what ways, from what you can discern at this point, is Huxley’s depiction of future society similar to Orwell’s? • Why, according to these authors, is Totalitarianism so bad? • Are there any relieving qualities? • How do these societies compare with our own? • How do authors use dystopias as satire?