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Post by AlexanderTheGreat on Jan 19, 2002 21:13:24 GMT -5
I was wondering if anyone has read any books by Aldous Huxley. More notable books include: * Brave New World * Ape and Essence * The Island
I just read Ape and Essence and I really want to start reading Brave New World.
Anyone else read any books by this author.
Also as an aside, in Ape and Essence Huxley displays the consequence of a wrong turning by man in the 17th century. Huxley believes that The Industrial Revolution and Nataionalism, and our desire to constantly strive for progress are driving us to our doom and will lead to the destruction of humankind.
Just wondering what your thoughts are on these ideas and if you have read books which explore simliar themes.
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Post by Elric3960 on Jan 19, 2002 21:43:08 GMT -5
I read Brave New World back in college and saw the Hallmark Hall of Fame version on NBCTV in the US back in the early '80's.
Not familiar with the other 2 books you mentioned, but I could list several books that covered similar themes:
1. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court: The latest movie that does a sendup of this theme stars Martin Lawrence(?) Before him, Will Rogers, Bing Crosby, Orsen Bean(in an animated version), and Dennis Dugan(as a Disney-style astronaut) played with the theme of a modern-day tinkerer traveling back in time to the days of Camelot and disrupting(in the original novel, destroying) the Age of Chivalry with his mechanical ingenuity.
2. Gulliver's Travels: Lemuel Gulliver's adventures to strange lands and becoming disinterested in his fellow countrymen in the process. In one of his travels, he encounters a "flying island" inhabited by insane scientists who couldn't relate to anything but their own discoveries.
3. We: Eugene Zamyatin's translated work is about a society based on mathematic dicipline and non-emotion.
4. The Iron Heel: Jack London's novel about an industrial revolution that sparks a pre-fascist civil war. Inspiration for George Orwell's 1984.
5. Player Piano: Kurt Vonnegut's satire of technology run amuck. He was a PR man at General Electric when he wrote this novel, so he had a chance to "vent his spleen" when he wrote this book.
There are other books that have been written that explore and, in most cases, attack the "utopian ideal" and warn us about what happens when humans lose their humanity in the name of "progress." I hope this whets your appetite for now.
Good reading.
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Post by Hermione on Jan 19, 2002 23:01:11 GMT -5
I've read Brave New World and [/i]Brave New World Revisited[/i], which is a collection of essays by Huxley, although I have to say it didn't make as much of an impression on me as the novel.
I find it interesting that Huxley and Orwell seem to be tied together so often; I guess the line between utopia and dystopia merits exploration.
Some of Elric's suggestions also make me think of Candide and the fact that the only place that really qualifies as "the best of all possible worlds" is the "primitive" land of Eldorado.
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Post by Elric3960 on Jan 20, 2002 0:02:07 GMT -5
^^^Interesting that you would compare Candide to something like Gulliver's Travels or A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. It's a valid comparison: innocent, idealistic seeker-of-truth being challenged by his "travails."
What's more interesting is that I don't remember if Candide explored new or alien environments like the other two books did, but similar conclusions could be drawn after reading all three regarding the main characters and how they ended up.
Have you ever seen the film "O Lucky Man?" The main character of that film was compared by film critic Leonard Maltin to the "title" character in Candide.
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Post by Hermione on Jan 20, 2002 21:54:18 GMT -5
^^No, I haven't. *adds it to the long, long list of movies I have yet to see*
I think Eldorado qualifies as an alien environment (it's certainly alien compared to the other environments in the book), but I agree it's not quite on the same level as Gulliver.
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Post by Elric3960 on Jan 21, 2002 14:24:02 GMT -5
^^^It looks like I'll have to brush up on my French and locate the original Candide. Voltaire had a penetrating intellect and geniuses like him tend to be mistranslated.
Have you read Micromegas, his genuinely SF work about a Gulliver-like alien who was "superior" in every respect to us "puny humans?" It's hilarious in English, so I could imagine how it reads in the original French.
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Post by Qab on Jan 23, 2002 21:28:11 GMT -5
Long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away... (Okay, it was Iowa) I read Candide in French. I would suggest one do research to find an accurate translation before reading an English version. It is a lot to slog through, but "modernized" or "Americanized" translations -- meant to be easier to read -- lose so much of the nuances needed to truly understand the story. Comprehending the words is one thing (and I barely was able to do that at the time); getting the "atmosphere" (for lack of a better word) is just as, if not more, important.
I read Brave New World the year after I graduated college. *tents fingers in front of face* Fascinating.
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