Posted on 03/17/2015 3:54:30 PM PDT by EveningStar
In 1949, George Orwell received a curious letter from his former high school French teacher.
Orwell had just published his groundbreaking book Nineteen Eighty-Four, which received glowing reviews from just about every corner of the English-speaking world. His French teacher, as it happens, was none other than Aldous Huxley who taught at Eton for a spell before writing Brave New World (1931), the other great 20th century dystopian novel.
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Nineteen Eighty-Four and Brave New World.
Went from Science Fiction to Democratic Operations and Instruction Manuals.
Orwell’ s characters were well aware that things could be better, but we’re just afraid to mention it. In Huxley’ s novel, most of the characters were happy with the society they lived in, being bred and conditioned for it like goldfish in a bowl.
Brave New World does seem more likely than 1984, IMHO
Yet Vonnegut may have been most accurate of all.
We’re living in the world of Harrison Bergeron nearly 60 years early.
Oh, you mean like "Millennials"?
We are presently LIVING '1984'.
I bought an old 1950s radio drama adaptation of “Brave New World” and it is very good. At the beginning of the show, Huxely says a few words. I remember two points: he wrote it as a warning and if he had written it now (1950s) he would not have placed it so far in the future.
Ditto.
I don’t recall Winston Smith having a gun safe, a private home or his own car. I can shoot back but I think a Brave New World could be imposed with very little objection from most.
We are, as the saying goes,”Living the dream.”
Eton College wasn't your typical high school.
Whether the future would be more like Huxley's vision or Orwell's was long a subject for debate. It's still an open question. But a lot has fallen away. Much of each book seems more about its own time, rather than about ours or the future. And each looks exaggerated now. We may be going down the path Huxley feared (or less likely, the one Orwell dreaded), but so much will be different that we'll find it hard to recognize ourselves in his satire.
Your choice, it seems:
Soma
Victory Gin
Belief is a funny thing.
Belief is fluid and seems directly related to the willingness of each individual to explore, for themselves, what is truth.
Christians, over the years, got a bad rap when their only answer was to say “Because the Bible says so”, when challenged. While it may be true, it left them looking foolish in the eyes of so called, scientific reason.
It seems to my that things have come full circle.
Today, it is the atheist that resorts to authority while the Christian is asking them the questions. Questions about the science, the methods used and conclusions they promote.
Human nature remains the same.
There are some that accept authority and others that question authority.
I read both of these years ago. I thought 1984 was by far better written, in fact it scared the daylights out of me and when I finished it and closed the cover I made a vow that I would never read it again, even if someone held a gun to my head.
But I have come to think that Brave New World was very prescient. And I would be willing to read it again.
And didn’t Brave New World have a somewhat happier ending?
Somewhat. It ends with the Savage continuing to constantly flagellate himself and John commits suicide.
Never heard of it, so I googled the name.
WOW I must read that!
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