No, not that Huxley, the other Huxley. No, not that one either, the OTHER Huxley. OK, yeah, this one:
Aldous Huxley’s profoundly important classic of world literature, Brave New World is a searching vision of an unequal, technologically-advanced future where humans are genetically bred, socially indoctrinated, and pharmaceutically anesthetized to passively uphold an authoritarian ruling order–all at the cost of our freedom, full humanity, and perhaps also our souls. “A genius [who] who spent his life decrying the onward march of the Machine” (The New Yorker), Huxley was a man of incomparable talents: equally an artist, a spiritual seeker, and one of history’s keenest observers of human nature and civilization. Brave New World, his masterpiece, has enthralled and terrified millions of readers, and retains its urgent relevance to this day as both a warning to be heeded as we head into tomorrow and as thought-provoking, satisfying work of literature. Written in the shadow of the rise of fascism during the 1930s, Brave New World likewise speaks to a 21st-century world dominated by mass-entertainment, technology, medicine and pharmaceuticals, the arts of persuasion, and the hidden influence of elites.
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How did tomorrow’s histories get written as last year’s works of fiction???
And let’s not forget Ape and Essence, my personal favorite.
“The leech’s kiss, the squid’s embrace,
The prurient ape’s defiling touch:
And do you like the human race?
No, not much.”
What Huxleys are you referring to? There is Demolition Man which is an homage to this Huxley, Sandra Bullock plays Lenina Huxley.
MikeN – simple questions should just be looked up.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huxley_family
Kevin — It says something when the Nobel prize winner in the family is less famous than his two half-brothers.
I did look them up, but I didn’t know if that’s what he meant.
I just re-read Brave New World recently and I did NOT find it horrifying. The baby factories were horrible, but the rest of the world seemed a pretty decent place. And if you were the type to find it uncomfortable, they didn’t kill you, they sent you some where you could be a little less bothered by the extremes and live your life.
If we could substitute robots for the genetically modified lower classes, I’m not sure I would mind living there.