Brave New World Revisited
First published 1958 · English · 178 pages
- Novels
- Family saga
- Science fiction
- Fantasy
Nearly thirty years after his famous novel, Huxley returned to its themes in a work of non-fiction. He looks at the world of the late 1950s and asks how far his imagined future had come closer. Topics include overpopulation, bureaucracy, advertising, propaganda, hypnosis and the pressures that push people toward conformity. He compares his fears with those of Orwell and argues for education and vigilance in defence of individual freedom. The essays are clear and urgent, and they make a useful companion to the novel.
Quotes
The soul of wit may become the very body of untruth.
The nature of power is such that even those who have not sought it, but have had it forced upon them, tend to acquire a taste for more.
Liberty, as we all know, cannot flourish in a country that is permanently on a war footing, or even a near war footing. Permanent crisis justifies permanent control of everybody and everything by the agencies of central government.
Democracy can hardly be expected to flourish in societies where political and economic power is being progressively concentrated and centralized. But the progress of technology has led and is still leading to just such a concentration and centralization of power.