In Our Time Aldous Huxley's Brave New World
Apr 9, 2009
Academic David Bradshaw, psychologist Daniel Pick, and scholar Michele Barrett discuss Aldous Huxley's 'Brave New World' in this podcast. They explore Huxley's dystopian vision, societal conformity, Americanization, influence of eugenics and Ford, Huxley's response to societal turmoil, the savage's revelation, and themes of orchestration and ethical dilemmas in the novel.
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Bernard Marx As The Reluctant Guide
- Bernard Marx is an Alpha-plus who feels inferior because of his shortness and Romantic tastes in a conformist World State.
- He exposes readers to the engineered society through his malcontent perspective and love of silence.
California Trip Shaped Lina Crowne
- Huxley visited California in 1926 and described Hollywood pep, bathing beauties, and charismatic sects that influenced Lina Crowne's character.
- He borrowed T.S. Eliot's phrase to capture the era's promise of "pneumatic bliss."
Bottling Plants Symbolize Engineered Stability
- The Hatchery's bottling plants dramatize scientific control of reproduction to ensure social stability and minimize discontent.
- Huxley ties this to anxieties about state intervention in natural selection and his family link to Darwinian thought.