Brave New World Revisited
Aldous Huxley's 1958 essays on how fast the world was moving toward Brave New World.
At a glance
Key ideas
Faster than expected, Overpopulation, Drugs and suggestion …
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Aldous Huxley and Brave New World
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- Almost thirty years after the novel, Huxley asks whether the world has moved toward or away from his vision.
- He concludes it is becoming like Brave New World much faster than he expected.
- He examines causes such as overpopulation and the means of controlling populations, especially drugs and subliminal suggestion.
- The last chapter proposes what could stop a democracy from becoming totalitarian.
Why it matters
- It is the non-fiction case behind the novel, and the source of his warning about "man's almost infinite appetite for distractions".
Key facts
- Author
- Aldous Huxley1
- Published
- 1958, Harper & Brothers (US); 1959, Chatto & Windus (UK)1
- Form
- Non-fiction essays1
Key ideas
-
Faster than expected1
The world was becoming like Brave New World faster than he thought in 1932.
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Overpopulation1
One of the causes he analyses.
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Drugs and suggestion1
He was particularly interested in drugs and subliminal suggestion as means of control.
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Appetite for distractions1
Civil libertarians "failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions".
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What to do1
The last chapter proposes action to keep a democracy from turning totalitarian.
Connections
Sources
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