December 2019 pick: Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Brave New World is a classic dystopian novel, often considered complementary to 1984. But this is a soft dystopia, where people live lives of comfort and satiety, eugenically bred to be happy with their lot.
Far in the future, the World Controllers have created the ideal society. Through clever use of genetic engineering, brainwashing and recreational sex and drugs all its members are happy consumers. Bernard Marx seems alone harbouring an ill-defined longing to break free. A visit to one of the few remaining Savage Reservations where the old, imperfect life still continues, may be the cure for his distress...
As well as being a classic of SF, it seems like a book that has some parallels with the world we see around us. Something perhaps to explore in our discussions?
And if that's not enough to whet your appetite, read Margaret Atwood's comments on the book.
Comments
This 'soft dystopia' idea will be interesting to discuss. As anthologist John Joseph Adams describes it, a dystopia will seem like a utopia to some, but not to others, and society as a whole often doesn't realize what it has given up.
From his introduction to his Brave New Worlds anthology - an anthology named after the book we are about to read - here's John Joseph Adams:
A free sampler from Brave New Worlds is available here.
I'm sure the subject of utopia / dystopia will come up, as will a comparison to 1984 and perhaps The Handmaid's Tale. And then still think about how the ideas in the book could relate to gaming.
It's been a while since I've read the book, so it'll be interesting to see how the book compares to both my fuzzy recall and the popular perception of it.
This extract from Brave New Worlds
"This seemingly paradoxical situation can arise because, in a dystopia, the society often gives up A in exchange for B, but the benefit of B blinds the society to the loss of A; it is often not until many years later that the loss of A is truly felt, and the citizens come to realize that the world they once thought acceptable (or even ideal) is not the world they thought it was"
reminded me very strongly of Logan's Run, a film I haven't watched for a long time.
I was reading through a biography of Aldous Huxley and discovered that he was born on the outskirts of Godalming, Surrey - a town where I live from age roughly 10 until I left the parental home. How odd that I had never realised this while living there or since. For those of a musical bent, the Peperharrow Road area where he lived is just down the hill from Charterhouse School, best-known as the place where the prog rock band Genesis was formed back in 1967!
I’m listening to an audio version and it’s a bit surreal to hear Michael York pronounce ‘gametes’ so it sounds like ‘gay meats’. Is that a common pronunciation in the UK?
I've posted some questions about the book in the Brave New World discussion category. Have fun with them!
And I hadn't realised that I'd be posting these questions on a day of such widespread reflection on what has gone before, and what might come to be. So, no pressure, Neil!