Using pernicious corporate greed as the basis of his World State (the fictional government is based upon Henry Ford’s approach to business – mass production, banality, mass consumption, and homogeneous lifestyles), these World Controllers live in luxury and believe they have created the perfect society.Įvents have taken an unpleasant turn as genetic engineering, wanton indoctrination, and the promotion of recreational drugs has led to a population of happy (if delusional) consumers.Īmongst them is one Bernard Marx, who (as with Winston Smith in Orwell’s work) appears to be the only individual disillusioned by it all. Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four is also a much-revered novel, with politically minded individuals on the right and left bickering about its intended meaning alongside other lauded works such as Animal Farm.īrave New World was a precursor to all of this. Dystopian works have flourished in recent years, with the likes of The Walking Dead proving remarkably popular. Whilst many folks won’t be happy to admit it, morbid stuff sells – conflict is entertaining. The rest? Several authors helping to create a new literary trope! Brave New World
Well’s utopian novels, he decided to spin the concept of a positive future on its head, as Rand was doing more or less simultaneously with Anthem.
Huxley wasn’t inspired by tumultuous world politics, though, as Orwell would later be – having read H.G. Brave New World is right up there with them – it’s an impressive work indeed.Ĭonsidered one of the best novels of the 20th century, the story set the cultural staples for a dystopian society, with the idea of the autocratic rulers controlling subordinates through oppressive means.
It was a precursor to George Orwell’s brilliantly unnerving Nineteen Eighty-Four, whilst the likes of Ayn Rand had also had a stab at a similar concept in Anthem. Published in 1932, the English writer of considerable genius Aldous Huxley (1894 – 1963) penned this dystopian tale of societal woe.
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