The main message running through the book is how the industrial revolution has drastically changed the world and the people in it, along with the fear that the continued fast-paced and automated mass production leads to an increasingly controlled society, a loss of individuality and ultimately, that of identity. Most manual labour is handled by one of the genetically engineered caste who are bred to have a very limited intelligence and lack of free thought.īernard Marx is one of the few who are unwilling to accept things as they are and goes on a voyage of discovery to one of the last remaining places in the world where humans still live an old, "imperfect" life of natural reproduction and simpler survival (known as a "Savage Reservation"). Few ever think that their existence is anything other than ideal and don't think to question the status quo. The population itself is restricted to a maximum of two billion lives, all reared in conditioning centers and engineered to fit into one of five distinct castes - each of which are designed to fulfill a specific role. Through these various measures the government exerts a rigid form of control over the general populous happy consumers in a cold, loveless existence. While people do still work they seem to have lots of free time and are encouraged to make the most of recreational sex, mood altering drugs and games including a magnetic version of golf, an advanced version of swing-ball (known as Centrifugal Bumble-puppy), 4 dimensional pornography and advanced forms of films known as "feelies". It began life as a parody of HG Wells Utopian visions and depicts a profound change in society where the government control the masses through advanced cloning - which completely replaces natural reproduction - psychological & pharmacological manipulation and advanced forms of entertainment. It's been listed in a number of the more influential "Top 100" lists and is considered a classic of 20th Century literature. ![]() The AF stands for "After Ford", meaning the American industrialist Henry Ford who has become something of a messianic figure in Huxley's World. Huxley died in California on 22 November 1963.Brave new world was written over 80 years ago back in 1932 and describes London in the year 2540 - or 632 AF as the year is described in the book. His beliefs found expression in both fiction (Time Must Have a Stop,1944, and Island, 1962) and non-fiction (The Perennial Philosophy, 1945 Grey Eminence, 1941 and the account of his first mescalin experience, The Doors of Perception, 1954. The exploration of the inner life through mysticism and hallucinogenic drugs was to dominate his work for the rest of his life. As the West braced itself for war, Huxley came increasingly to believe that the key to solving the world's problems lay in changing the individual through mystical enlightenment. In 1937, at the height of his fame, Huxley left Europe to live in California, working for a time as a screenwriter in Hollywood. The great novels of ideas, including his most famous work Brave New World (published in 1932 this warned against the dehumanising aspects of scientific and material 'progress') and the pacifist novel Eyeless in Gaza (1936) were accompanied by a series of wise and brilliant essays, collected in volume form under titles such as Music at Night (1931) and Ends and Means (1937). For most of the 1920s Huxley lived in Italy and an account of his experiences there can be found in Along the Road (1925). This was swiftly followed by Antic Hay (1923), Those Barren Leaves (1925) and Point Counter Point (1928) - bright, brilliant satires in which Huxley wittily but ruthlessly passed judgement on the shortcomings of contemporary society. He began writing poetry and short stories in his early 20s, but it was his first novel, Crome Yellow (1921), which established his literary reputation. ![]() ![]() ![]() Aldous Huxley was born on 26 July 1894 near Godalming, Surrey.
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