Huxley's Brave New World

The subject matter of this blog has wandered as news and events have unfolded to date. However, I just read Brave New World by Aldous Huxley – it’s been 25 years since I first read it. Needless to say, a classic in speculative fiction will change for the reader as the reader changes over time. I got so much more out of it this time around…not because I’ve now written my own speculative fiction novel but due to what I’ve learned in 25 years.

On this note, it’s time for back-to-back entries on Huxley’s opus. So many subjects came to mind deserving their own entry that you’ll notice a trend in coming days. When I’ve exhausted the bubbling observations such a rich book brings, expect a return to the usual Darwin’s Orphans blog format. So, here goes the first of many…

Although it’s true that Jules Verne and H.G. Wells wrote rich works of speculative fiction prior to the past century, so did Nostradamus. All pioneering spirit aside, I must confess that the big futurists of the 20th century captured my attention like no others. There are the greats of Asimov and Vonnegut, yes, but before they really took off there was my favorite trio: Huxley, Rand and Orwell. This is, incidentally, a chronological order with regard to key speculative works in their respective careers.

Huxley published Brave New World in 1932, four years after Point Counter Point – another speculative fiction work. I’ve heard stories from grandparents and other octogenarians about their childhood in this era. There were electric lights, aviation was a new part of life, electrical devices were growing in number and becoming more commonplace -- but where it would all lead was anybody’s guess. And social trends during the great depression was a hot topic.

Huxley wrangled the future with an eye to 600 years ahead. Many of his future state predictions occurred in their own way much earlier than predicted. His rocket planes in the book are a bit faster than today’s supersonic transports but not much. He had a slower expectation of travel progress than we’ve seen but it’s enjoyable to read his descriptions of future transportation.

But as far as other writers of the era are concerned, it makes one think about Ayn Rand and George Orwell and Huxley's influence on them. Did they get some ideas of their own for speculative fiction from him? I’m sure they at least started to ponder similar concepts when they read his take on the future. Rand published Anthem in 1938 describing her work as “like the preliminary sketches that artists draw before their first big canvases." This was six years after Brave New World. She went on to write her more known works after Anthem. Personally, I liked the “preliminary sketch” the best of all.

Following Rand came Orwell and 1984. Published in 1949, it followed the anti-Stalinist writing trend that Orwell had well established. Prior to 1984, Orwell had written Animal Farm in 1944 which was his most well known work at that date but was fantasy infused social statement far more than it was speculative fiction. Looking back at his recent predecessors, one could easily guess that the futuristic musings of Orwell were infused by recent works of Huxley…at least that’s my take on it. Feel free to share yours here.