'But I don't want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness, I want sin. I'm claiming the right to be unhappy.'
Today we have seen the World State through the eyes of John the Savage, who has thrown the brave new world's soma out of the window in the name of Liberty.
We're discussing civilisation and its discontents, deep feelings as Shakespeare's thoughts, corrupted utilitarianism, human imagination vs invention, sacrificing high art for stability, and much more.
Please do feel free to enjoy the discussion even if you haven't read these parts of Brave New World yet. Huxley's work is a novel of ideas and the climax gives us his powerful closing argument. As such, you can enjoy our talk before, during, or after your reading in the way that best suits you.
Timestamps:
0:00 returning to Huxley’s dystopia
2:00 Bernard finds Lenina alluring
4:00 clothing in the brave new world
6:00 Shakespeare’s Troilus & Cressida
8:00 John quotes from Romeo & Juliet
10:00 Civilisation and Its Discontents
12:00 sublimation & the Age of Freud
14:00 the utility of suppressing great art
15:00 our feelings were the bard’s thoughts
17:00 difference between Cressida & Juliet
19:00 John’s feelings of shame & guilt
20:00 Tolstoy on mankind as beehive
22:00 heinous unorthodox behaviour
24:00 ten guilty men vs one innocent
25:00 what does utilitarianism mean?
26:00 the state & worth of individuals
27:00 thinking about the trolley problem
29:00 do the ends justify the means?
31:00 self-preservation vs self-sacrifice
33:00 Linda & John in the World State
35:00 pride, non-serviam & self-worship
36:00 ‘eternity was in our lips and eyes’
38:00 the hypocrisy of Bernard Marx
40:00 how the monster maketh the man
41:00 John’s disillusionment with society
42:00 human imagination vs invention
44:00 brainwashing posing as education
45:00 is Shakespeare just a distraction?
46:00 scent-organ experience at the feelies
48:00 satirising the development of cinema
50:00 the age of talkies & technicolour
51:00 John takes comfort from Othello
53:00 how idealism turns to misanthropy
55:00 choosing between bliss & truth
56:00 dying in love in order to rise again
58:00 Helmholtz laughing at Shakespeare
1:00:00 why I love Romeo & Juliet so much
1:02:00 John as Othello & Lenina as Desdemona
1:04:00 the traumatic death of John’s mother
1:05:00 reading to accept our mortality
1:06:00 the top five regrets of the dying
1:08:00 courageously choosing to be happy
1:09:00 John the Savage sparks a riot
1:11:00 ‘I’ll teach you; I’ll make you free…’
1:13:00 John the Savage vs Mustapha Mond
1:14:00 sacrificing high art for stability
1:16:00 Hobbes’ philosophy in Leviathan
1:18:00 appreciating the US Constitution
1:20:00 ‘happiness is never grand…’
1:21:00 how it feels to conquer a fear
1:22:00 seeing Huxley’s dystopia today
1:24:00 toil, labour & the beauty of life
1:25:00 the utopian vision in The Tempest
1:26:00 truth & science as public menace
1:28:00 sacrificing religion for society
1:29:00 what’s in the Controller’s library?
1:31:00 removing the bedrock of culture
1:33:00 The Varieties of Religious Experience
1:34:00 the markers of musical experience
1:36:00 William James on religion’s pragmatism
1:37:00 ‘why don’t you give them these books?’
1:38:00 is King Lear irrelevant to our time?
1:40:00 Mond’s reading of Cardinal Newman
1:42:00 being independent of God until the end
1:44:00 God manifests in modernity as absence
1:46:00 grasping the true essence of reality
1:48:00 ‘they’ve been conditioned to believe’
1:50:00 is our current time worse than this?
1:51:00 reading to enjoy company in solitude
1:52:00 ‘Providence takes its cue from men’
1:53:00 ‘society has no need for heroism’
1:55:00 why do we watch great tragedies?
1:58:00 claiming the right to be unhappy
2:00:00 the devastating end of the novel
2:03:00 what did you make of the book?
2:05:00 reading assignment for Orwell
Resources to Explore:
Aldous Huxley: If you enjoyed Huxley's dystopian novel, you may wish to earmark some of his other works for future reads. We recommended the 1962 work Island, and also his non-fiction writings previously, but, for more novels of ideas, these are well worth checking out: Crome Yellow (1921), Point Counter Point (1928), and Eyeless in Gaza (1936).
Non-Fiction: If you're interested in the works of political philosophy and psychology mentioned throughout the discussion, then any of these would be well worth picking up and perusing: Sigmund Freud's Civilisation and Its Discontents, Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan, John Milton's Aereopagitica, John Stuart Mill's On Liberty & Utilitarianism, William James' The Varieties of Religious Experience, and the Writings of Cardinal Newman. We also spoke about palliative care nurse Bronnie Ware's work The Top Five Regrets of the Dying. If you're interested to taking the hypothetical trolley problem we discussed to absurd extremes, then check out this fun website. You can see what percentage of people would make the same decision as you every step of the way.
Film Appreciation: Treat yourself to a screening of the 1971 cult classic film THX 1138, directed by George Lucas, produced by Francis Ford Coppola, and starring Robert Duvall, which draws from dystopian works like Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four. It's a great one to watch as we transition from Huxley to Orwell's world. For another dystopian classic from the seventies, Logan's Run is always great to watch. If you enjoy the satirical and parody aspect of dystopian visions, then Terry Gilliam's 1985 film Brazil would make for great viewing too, especially as we move into Orwell's work. Or, for an option from the cinema of the noughties, I've always enjoyed Minority Report, starring Tom Cruise, based on the classic science fiction novel.
George Orwell: As we are now segueing into Nineteen Eighty-Four, you might find it rewarding to pick up some of his non-fiction writings. Everyman's Library has an excellent hardback edition of his Essays. You may find the following essays to be of particular interest: 'Politics and the English Language', 'Why I Write', 'The Prevention of Literature', 'Inside the Whale,' and 'Looking Back on the Spanish War.' Orwell writes in a really crisp and digestible fashion, which makes it easy to dip in and out of his essays as your interest and mood dictates. Also bear in mind that the appendix of Nineteen Eighty-Four, 'The Principles of Newspeak,' is an important part of the reading experience of the novel, which Orwell directs readers to turn to very early on in the work.
Reading Assignment:
We are now moving from Aldous Huxley's soft dystopian vision in Brave New World straight into George Orwell's dark totalitarian nightmare in Nineteen Eighty-Four. Reading these two iconic works back to back will offer us a profound compare-and-contrast experience.
Our next discussion will cover the first part of Nineteenth Eighty-Four up to and including part two, chapter four, which takes us through to page 167 in the Penguin Classics paperback edition.
Now we're going to meet Winston Smith in one of the twentieth century's most enduring and influential works of literature. So continue bringing yourself to our dystopian double bill, making notes on any themes or ideas that capture your attention and imagination.
Questions to Consider:
1) What did you make of the ending of Brave New World?
2) What is your vision of utopia? And how could it become a dystopia for others?
3) Would it be worth sacrificing high art for stability? Would it even be necessary?
4) How would you persuade another to read Brave New World? And are you keen to explore more of Huxley's works?
5) What are you expecting moving from Huxley's vision into Orwell's dystopia?
And please do share with us your impressions, favourite passages, and striking ideas from the end of Brave New World.
Happy reading, everybody!