Brave New World By Aldous Huxley
- Thread starter ChrisC
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isvicthere?
a.k.a. floppybollocks
ChrisC said:
For many years popular "wisdom" had it that "1984" was like the authoritarian Soviet Bloc and "BNW" was like the corporate consumer west. The two are quite different in my opinion. In fact, "BNW" was more prophetic, positing a future society obsessed by sex and quick-fix gratification, in which genetic engineering was widely accepted and used. Don't forget, it was published in the early 30s.
"1984", by contrast, telescoped contemporary concerns of post-war (e.g. rationing) into a different kind of future shock.
Both masterpieces IMO.
isvicthere?
a.k.a. floppybollocks
kyser_soze said:
N.B. Don't forget, "Communism" as a major system which would sweep over about a third of the world's population, was still almost two decades in the future. When Huxley wrote BNW the Soviet Union was not the force it would later become.
isvicthere?
a.k.a. floppybollocks
ChrisC said:
No no no! Huxley's "Doors of perception" (published, I think, in 1954) was the first serious widely-known work on the psychedelic experience. In fact, Huxley and Humphrey Osman, the British scientist who introduced him to mescaline, came up with the term between them. In fact, Huxley suggested "phanerothyme", but in the end they settled on a modification of Osman's idea: "psychodelic" (Greek for "mind manifesting").
See also: Christopher Mayhew, a tory MP who took mesc in 1956 for a BBC prog that was banned, and not actually shown for 30 years. It's the inspiration for "Christopher Mayhew said" by the Shamen.
isvicthere?
a.k.a. floppybollocks
Ninjaboy said:
Not ecstasy: soma.
Agent Sparrow
the age of slippers and migraines
I loved BNW when I read it. I know there are comparisons with 1984 but like some others, I do feel the two books in their ideas are quite different. Like isvicthere? I reckon BNW is the one that's actually come more true.
But anyway, I'm not really saying anything special here. What I am popping on here to say that I've been wondering whether it's worth reading any more Huxley - either Island or The Doors of Perception (the latter I've heard is a bugger to read). Is Island worth it?
But anyway, I'm not really saying anything special here. What I am popping on here to say that I've been wondering whether it's worth reading any more Huxley - either Island or The Doors of Perception (the latter I've heard is a bugger to read). Is Island worth it?
isvicthere?
a.k.a. floppybollocks
Agent Sparrow said:
Read both. They're both really good.
goldenecitrone
post tenebras lux
I always get Brave New World and Logan's Run confused. Which one does Jenny Agutter get her kit off in?
Agent Sparrow
the age of slippers and migraines
Not really - wonderful/terrible thing about soma is there was no come down.Ninjaboy said:
While I wish pills didn't give you come downs, I'd probably take a hell of a lot more of them if they didn't
Agent Sparrow said:Not really - wonderful/terrible thing about soma is there was no come down.
While I wish pills didn't give you come downs, I'd probably take a hell of a lot more of them if they didn't
from a literary point of view they aren't that different
i wish you hadn't quoted me before i changed it to 'somato' btw
Agent Sparrow
the age of slippers and migraines
*goes back to look*Ninjaboy said:
Ninjaboy said:
Um, talking of mind altering substances ninge...
(I always edit my posts after people have quoted me so there you go
)
isvicthere?
a.k.a. floppybollocks
Ninjaboy said:from a literary point of view they aren't that different
i wish you hadn't quoted me before i changed it to 'somato' btw
Interestingly enough, you're right. Huxley's "soma" does perform much of the social funtion of E, a good 50-odd years before its popularity. Only difference, apart from the comedown element, is that soma is not a party drug, but an everyday medication.
Even though AH lived (and died) well before rave culture, he was very conscious of the bohemia of 20s London in which heroin and cocaine were the drugs of preference (for which, read "Antic Hay"). Indeed, in BNW he does actually mention native Americans using mescal in their spiritual practice, some 20 years before he himself put his foot through that particular "door of perception".
isvicthere? said:
if you had lived my life, you wouldn't see e as a party drug
edited cos it isnt a very good response.
people take e long after the party is over, and i bet anyone who has been into it for a bit has ended up somewhere where the party has long since left the building, but the e is still being passed around
isvicthere?
a.k.a. floppybollocks
Ninjaboy said:if you had lived my life, you wouldn't see e as a party drug
edited cos it isnt a very good response.
people take e long after the party is over, and i bet anyone who has been into it for a bit has ended up somewhere where the party has long since left the building, but the e is still being passed around
Of course, but I was thinking more of the scene where the female character (Alexa?) is slumming it in the "savage" reservation and is so stressed by the experience that she wishes she had some soma on her.
I agree it does have something of E about it, but in this case it's more like a valium-type need.
Anyway, we're arguing about nothing really...
Barking_Mad
Non sibi sed omnibus
BNW is more of a world where passivity and the use of drugs rule peoples lives (ie Soma to keep the masses happy) where as 1984 is more totalitarian in its ideas and vision of a future society. Combine the two and you probably have a vision of the future.
Both are good in my view, there's enough in each to stoke your mind for a while
Both are good in my view, there's enough in each to stoke your mind for a while
Col_Buendia
sort code
goldenecitrone said:
The Railway Children, I seem to recall...
ChrisC
Well-Known Member
So far I'm enjoying the book. I have to say from what I have read so far, I wouldn't mind living in that world. Soma? Yes please! I think since I suffer from schizophrenia and depression. Basically I can relate to taking drugs to make oneself happy. Yes, Huxleys Brave New World would suit me down to the ground.
CharlieAddict
nekomimi rocks!!!
glad you enjoyed it! your enthusiasm makes me wanna re-read my copy now!!
Reno
The In Kraut
Gave up after four episodes and though it only gets more cliched. Part of that has to do with the novel, which is the foundation of so much dystopian/utopian fiction but the set up of conflicts in this tv adaptation, is far too mechanical. It's always obvious what will happen next and the thriller element is tacked on. Maybe I just need my tv series to be super amazing but this doesn't manage to transform the novel into something which resonantes on any meaningful level with today. Not getting to knob the person you fancy at a drug fuelled orgy, is a dilemma difficult to relate to in these times.
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Reno
The In Kraut
I haven't read the novel since my teens, but remember it making an impression on me and in some ways I found it quite prescient (dependence on mood enhancing prescription drugs, cloning, increasingly inane entertainment) . The worst aspect of the novel always were John and the "savages" which in the TV series have been changed from being vaguely like Native Americans living on a reservation and making them rednecks who live in a West World-style theme park. It’s not much better, though at least less racist. The whole idea of John being in some way more pure, showing up the superficiality of this utopian/dystopian society for its superficiality and cruelty is a sentimental cliche of that type of fiction. I've read the synopsis for the rest of the series and while reasonably faithful to the first half of the book, eventually it departs to tick off every dystopian cliche imaginable, worst of
all yet another ding-ding-the-witch-is-dead revolution of the oppressed.
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