Every couple years I revisit the story by Aldous Huxley, Brave New World. My favourite film version of this is actually this old one from 1980, found on YouTube, but you can follow along.
I actually enjoy this book much more than its Orwellian counterpart. I remember in school we read 1984 more than once, and I always remember how scary the government was in it. The ideas didn't really make a lot of sense until I got older, and as much as I think I might know, I am delighted to discover I am always undercovering and learning new things. New words, new topics, old writers and their ideas from decades and centuries past. It's too easy to think, I know this, because it takes mere moments to read a sentence and have an idea that you never paused on before. Every line of literature conveys layers of meaning, nuance, both precise and abstract.
"Huxley said that Brave New World was inspired by the utopian novels of H. G. Wells, including A Modern Utopia (1905) (see the wiki), and as a parody of Men Like Gods (1923) (see the wiki)."
Also, Island of Doctor Moreau (1896), The Wonderful Visit, and more.
• The War of the Worlds (1898)
• The Time Machine (1895)
• The Invisible Man (1897)
• The Island of Dr. Moreau (1896)
• Tales of Space and Time (1900)
• The Sleeper Awakes (1910)
• The Food of the Gods and How It Came to Earth (1904)
• The Story of the Inexperienced Ghost (1902)
• The First Men in the Moon (1901)
• A Dream of Armageddon (1901)
All this to preface that I am about to discover what other works
Aldous Huxley wrote prior to his first edition of Brave New World.
"Two hours. One hundred and twenty minutes. Anything might be done in that time. Anything. Nothing. Oh, he had had hundreds of hours, and what had he done with them? Wasted them, spilt the precious minutes as though his reservoir were inexhaustible. Denis groaned in the spirit, condemned himself utterly with all his works. What right had he to sit in the sunshine, to occupy corner seats in third-class carriages, to be alive? None, none, none. Misery and a nameless nostalgic distress possessed him. He was twenty-three, and oh! so agonizingly conscious of the fact." - from Chapter 1
This book starts out with a man named Denis on the train, taking a two hour ride, and he recounts the names of the stations and laments his unattended tasks.
338 pages!
"“The nineteenth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, part of the
thirty-fourth verse.” The Headmaster’s loud, harsh voice broke violently
out from the pulpit. “All with one voice for the space of about two
hours cried out, Great is Diana of the Ephesians.”
Gumbril composed himself as comfortably as he could on his oaken seat.
It was going to be one of the Headmaster’s real swingeing sermons. Great
is Diana. And Venus? Ah, these seats, these seats!
The story begins with Theodore Gumbril Jr at the School Chapel, learning about God.
323 pages!
"We are at the heart, here, of our human universe. Come, then, let us frankly admit that we are citizens of this mean city, make the worst of it resolutely and not try to escape. To escape, whether in space or in time, you must run a great deal further now than there was any need to do a hundred years ago when Shelley boated on the Tyrrhenian and conjured up millennial visions. You must go further in space, because there are more people, more and faster vehicles."
408 pages!
"Oh, wearisome condition of humanity, Born under one law to another bound, Vainly begot and yet forbidden vanity, Created sick, commanded to be sound. What meaneth nature by these diverse laws, Passion and reason, self-division's cause. FULKE OREVILLS"
What is this book anyways?
"‘ What the devil ! * George began, turning angrily on his sister.
‘Oh, hold your tongue ! * she answered impatiently.
Shaking hands with the fellow,’ he went on protesting.
'A bit of a pleb, wasn’t he?’ put in the military* friend. She looked from one to the other without speaking and walked away. What louts they were ! The two young men followed.
'I wish to God Mary would learn how to behave herself properly,’ said George, still fuming.
The military young man made deprecating noises. He was in love with her ; but he had to admit that she was rather embarrassingly unconventional sometimes.
It was her only defect. ‘Shaking that bounder’s hand!’ George went on grumbling."
616 pages!
I will leave more comments as I read these books. When you are done Brave New World, you can check out The Shape Of Things To Come
