This volume of criticism presents a variety of new essays on Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, a classic in the science fiction and dystopian genres. These essays delve into the cultural, historical, comparative and critical contexts for understanding Brave New World. For readers who are studying it for the first time, several essays survey the critical conversation regarding this work from all standard critical perspectives - social, gender, post-modern, psychological, and cultural as well as the more traditional historical ...
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This volume of criticism presents a variety of new essays on Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, a classic in the science fiction and dystopian genres. These essays delve into the cultural, historical, comparative and critical contexts for understanding Brave New World. For readers who are studying it for the first time, several essays survey the critical conversation regarding this work from all standard critical perspectives - social, gender, post-modern, psychological, and cultural as well as the more traditional historical and close readings. Aldous Huxley's Brave New World is (along with Evgeny Zamyatin's We and George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four) one of the founding texts of the genre of dystopian fiction. Such narratives, involving the exploration of possible dark, oppressive futures, have become one of the most popular genres of contemporary popular culture. Those narratives have recently become extremely common, even in Young Adult fiction. However, the founding texts of the genre remain compelling and continue to set its terms. Of these founding texts, Brave New World is widely acknowledged to be the one whose dystopian future most closely matches the Western world as it has actually evolved since the initial publication of the text more than eighty years ago. The essays in this volume examine the ways in which Brave New World continues to serve as an effective satirical commentary on our own reality, as well as the ways it continues to provide models for the numerous dystopian fictions that are being produced today.
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Seller's Description:
Fine in Near Fine jacket. First edition. Fine in especially bright and very near fine dust jacket with very small chips at the spine ends and a tiny and seamless internal repair of a miniscule tear. Housed in a custom blue cloth clamshell case with gray morocco gilt spine label. A truly lovely copy of Huxley's masterpiece, a bleak and despairing vision of future society. Increasingly rare in collector's condition. A much fresher than usual example. *Connolly 100.*.
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Near Fine in Near Fine jacket. First edition, first printing. Bound in publisher's blue cloth with spine lettered in gilt. Near Fine with significant lean to binding and light fading to spine, foxing to text block edges, and slight perfume odor. In a Near Fine unclipped dust jacket with toning to spine, light edge wear and foxing. A striking copy of the dystopian classic.
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Signed limited first edition of Huxley's masterpiece. Octavo, original yellow cloth, gilt topstain as issued. One of a limited edition of 324 numbered copies signed by Aldous Huxley on the limitation page. In near fine condition with light toning. An exceptional example. Huxley wrote Brave New World in response to H.G. Wells' Utopian novels of the early 20th century. Set in London in the year 2540, the novel anticipated future developments in psychological manipulation and reproductive technology which created a profound shift in the character of society. "A nightmarish prognostication of a future in which humanity has been destroyed by science… easily Huxley's most popular (and many good judges continue to think his best) novel" (DNB). "After the success of his first three novels, Huxley abandoned the fictional milieu of literary London and directed his satire toward an imagined future. He admitted that the original idea of Brave New World was to challenge H.G. Wells' Utopian vision… The novel also marks Huxley's increasing disenchantment with the world, which was to result in his leaving England for California in 1937 in search of a more spiritual life. The book was immediately successful" (Parker & Kermode, 161-62). Named by Modern Library as one of the 100 Greatest Novels of the twentieth century.
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Near Fine. Dust Jacket Included. First edition, first printing. Publisher's original blue boards with titles in gilt to spine, blue topstain; original dust jacket with wraparound globe illustration by Leslie Holland. Very good or better book, with light toning to spine, bright gilt to spine, light rubbing to spine ends, bottom corner of front board lightly bumped, gentle lean to spine, light offsetting to endpapers, and rust mark from paperclip to front free endpaper and front flyleaf; very good price-clipped dust jacket, with light toning to spine, light chipping to spine ends (minor loss to "BRAVE" lettering at head of spine), a few small closed tears to panel edges, light chipping to top right corner of front panel, light rubbing along fold lines of spine, a small closed tear to top of front flap, and light soiling to front flap. Overall, a handsome, internally clean, copy of Huxley's masterpiece. One of the classic 20th century dystopian novels, Brave New World tells the story of Huxley's envisioned future for modern society: a totalitarian regime in which individuality has been replaced by conditioned uniformity and free thinking is suppressed with constant, mindless entertainment enhanced by government sanctioned recreational, mood-altering drugs. When this future "utopia" is breached by a "savage" who was raised without modern luxury, Huxley exposes that, while the future has secured the happiness and general well-being of all members of society, the meaning of life has been lost in the process. Unlike George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four or Kurt Vonnegut's Player Piano, Huxley does not envision a government that uses terror or force to maintain control over its citizens, nor one that inherently depresses its constituents for the sake of progress. Instead, the chilling moral of Brave New World is that, while "it is usual for human beings to suppose that, whatever the immediate outlook may be, ultimately all will be for the best in the best of all possible worlds, " it is important to remember not to be "too optimistic" or forget to question one's surroundings and the motives of those in positions of power.
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Near Fine in Near Fine jacket. First edition, first printing. Bound in publisher's blue cloth with spine lettered in gilt. Near Fine with slight fading to the spine and light wear to tips. Textblock edge lightly dust-soiled, contents toned and several preliminary sheets slightly soiled. In a Near Fine unclipped dust jacket, toning to spine with chipping at ends and corners, with a short split started at the bottom of the front spine joint. A great copy of this dystopian classic.
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First edition, first printing. [vi], 306, [1] pp. Bound in publisher's blue cloth with spine lettered in gilt, blue topstain. Near Fine with typical slight toning to spine, bookplate on paste down, in a Very Good unsophisticated dust jacket, light pink staining to front panel title lettering, spine panel toned, slightly chipped extremities with a triangular chip to the fore edge of the rear panel, unclipped (7s 6d). The first British trade edition of the classic dystopian novel that posited a nearly omnipotent totalitarian state essentially built from the ground up, rather than the top-down dictatorship of 1984. Perennially relevant. As Helmholtz Watson says in the book, "Words can be like X-rays if you use them properly-they'll go through anything. You read and you're pierced.".
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Very Good. First British edition, signed limited issue. Number 302 of a limited 324 copies signed by Aldous Huxley. Bound in publisher's original yellow cloth with blue morocco title label to spine lettered in gilt, top edge gilt and all others untrimmed. Very Good with cloth spine-toned and lightly dust-soiled, pages browned at rough-cut edges. A beautiful copy of the author's best-known work.
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Near Fine in Near Fine jacket. First American trade edition, first printing. Bound in publisher's original brown cloth stamped in gilt with red topstain. Near Fine with oxidation to gilt at spine and light softening to ends, light fading to cloth and light soiling to fore edge. Endsheets lightly offset. In a Near Fine unclipped dust jacket with spine fading, light soiling and a 2" closed tear to the top of the front flap fold. A much nicer copy than normally encountered and scarce thus. The classic dystopian novel that posited a nearly omnipotent totalitarian state essentially built from the ground up, rather than the top-down dictatorship of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four.
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Seller's Description:
Signed limited first edition of Huxley's masterpiece. Octavo, original yellow cloth, gilt topstain as issued. One of a limited edition of 324 numbered copies signed by Aldous Huxley on the limitation page, this is number 8. In very good condition. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. Huxley wrote Brave New World in response to H.G. Wells' Utopian novels of the early 20th century. Set in London in the year 2540, the novel anticipated future developments in psychological manipulation and reproductive technology which created a profound shift in the character of society. "A nightmarish prognostication of a future in which humanity has been destroyed by science… easily Huxley's most popular (and many good judges continue to think his best) novel" (DNB). "After the success of his first three novels, Huxley abandoned the fictional milieu of literary London and directed his satire toward an imagined future. He admitted that the original idea of Brave New World was to challenge H.G. Wells' Utopian vision… The novel also marks Huxley's increasing disenchantment with the world, which was to result in his leaving England for California in 1937 in search of a more spiritual life. The book was immediately successful" (Parker & Kermode, 161-62). Named by Modern Library as one of the 100 Greatest Novels of the twentieth century.
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Seller's Description:
First American edition, limited issue. Copy #165 of 250 signed by Aldous Huxley. [viii], 311pp. Bound in publisher's mauve paper covered boards stamped in gilt, with black spine cloth elaborately stamped in gilt, gilt topstain. Very Good with light stains to front and back boards, small bump to top edge. Lacking slipcase. The classic dystopian novel that posited a nearly omnipotent totalitarian state essentially built from the ground up, rather than the top-down dictatorship of 1984.
This was so different. Ive never read anything like it. The story was so unique. If you are looking for a really different dystopian book, this is for you.
Volsung
Sep 7, 2014
Timeless Classic
Brave New World is a timeless classic - as true today as the day it was written. Should be on everyone's short list of must read books.
PhLa
Mar 1, 2012
A classic. Futurist. Predates Orwell's 1984 by almost two decades. Social engineering is not Stalinian " Big Brother" nor workplace obsolescence but sensual conditioning: movies become the "feelies"; recordings during sleep make on love one's class (white, green etc); "soma" pills regulate reproducitve and cicardian rhythms; reproduction is removed from the body.
The conditioned human has become increasingly recognized over the 20th and 21st centuries.
GingerMermaidd
Oct 28, 2011
Brave New World Review
?Brave New World is ahead of its time. An eerie light is shone on today?s society through this book.?
Aldous Huxley takes you into the future with this amusing and innovative science fiction novel. Due to a disease that cased temporary blindness, Huxley was able to write this novel since he couldn?t fight in the war. Brave New World focuses on technology as well as the dark side of genetics.
Set in the year 2540, The World State can be viewed as a perfect society with happy citizens. All humans are created in the Department of Hatchery and Conditioning. They are taught in their sleep and are each assigned a social caste with predetermined roles. They have a flawless drug, it seems, that allows them to escape any of their personal problems. When a scientist, Bernard Marx, ventures to a savage reservation, his eyes are opened to the alternative universe. Soon the entire World State learns about savage life, the way we live today.
Brave New World was a fun and exciting read. It allows your mind to explore the possibilities of the future. Even though it was written in 1932, it is very accurate in describing life today, and probably isn?t too far off about the future years to come. Brave New World highlights the problems of genetic engineering and utopian society, and therefore, is an important must-read.
Sisyphus
Mar 11, 2010
overated as a read
Really didn't much enjoy the writers style and quite honestly didn't find the book that interesting. Primarily read it because of the many references to it in other texts. Didn't expect a lot and didn't get a lot.
