The Brave New World Collection by Aldous Huxley

Brave New World is a 1931 classic dystopian novel by British author Aldous Huxely. It is a world where people are grown in bottles and their caste — Alpha to Gamma is predetermined in vitro.  Parent, mother, father, and pregnant are offensive words that are repulsive.. Promiscuous sex, feelies, the drug soma to level you out or take you on a holliday, and socially mandated activities that make sure no one is alone, keep everyone “happy”, content, and unquestioning.

The first part of the book reads like a catalog of how this world differs from our own.Things get more interesting when the Alpha Barnard visits a reservation of savages and finds John, a young man whose parents are from the outside. Seeing this as a way to increase his social status, he takes John back to the world. John is dubbed John Savage and is an immediate sensation with Bernard as his manager. John isn’t dumb, he’s a keen observer who quotes Shakespeare in response to this “brave new world” with its artificial and superficial happiness. He finds that the solitude he craves is forever out of reach.

Brave New World is a dystopia masquerading as a utopia and a warning how technology and complaisance could lead to a totalitarian dystopia. Huxley explores this in Brave New World Revisited.

Brave New World Revisited is a series of essays published in 1958. Here Huxley contrasts the totalitarianism of Orwell’s 1984 with that of Brave New World. Huxley is pessimistic that overpopulation and over organization inevitability  is going to lead to totalitarianism. He also skirts alarmingly close to espousing eugenics. The chapters on propaganda and manipulation apply as much today as when Huxley wrote them. Perhaps more so given the way broadcast media can disseminate propaganda and manipulate people’s thinking. See the 2024 election.

Brave New World is an extreme look at a possible future for society given advances in technology and other stressors but I found Brave New World Revisited much more relevant and thought provoking. The reader sees just how easy it is to manipulate people.

Read Brave New World, Brave New World Revisited, Orwell's 1984, and Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 for a good look at possible paths toward totalitarianism. All three books are still relevant today.

Julia by Sandra Newman

My triad of totalitarian/dystopian novels—1984, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451—is now a quartet. I just finished Sandra Newman’s Julia which tells the story of George Orwell’s1984 from the viewpoint of Winston Smith’s lover, Julia Worthing (Orwell didn’t give her a last name). Newman has given us a fully fleshed out female protagonist with her own backstory, agency, and motivations. There is a lot more to Julia than what we see in 1984.

We see Julia’s interactions with Winston and events involving Winston through her eyes. She refers to him as Old Misery because of his dour disposition and apparent dislike of women. Between these scenes, we are shown the lives of Outer Party women in Big Brother’s London in grim detail. Unlike Winston who has his own apartment, Julia has a bed in the open bay, barracks-like hostel, Women’s 21. This gives us an intimate look at the daily lives of the women living in close quarters. Likewise, through Julia we see the lives of the proles (i.e. non-party members) with whom she engages in black market activities.

Julia is an excellent companion to 1984 and skillfully shows us a different side to the story. I very much recommend reading or rereading 1984 first, before opening Julia. You need to have the events of 1984 fresh in your mind. I really can’t give more detail about Julia because I don’t want to spoil the story but I love everything about the way Newman builds on the story of 1984 and gives it her voice. Julia takes nothing away from 1984 but rather blends the two storys.The ending is superbly understated and made me sit back and say hmmm.

I got Julia from the library but need to add it to my permanent collection.