Aldous huxley brave new world1/21/2024 Unsurprisingly (as Huxley seems to have a history of disliking things for the wrong reasons) the article focuses less on the racism and blackface in the film, but more on the popular opinion at the time that “talkies,” which were replacing silent films, were ruining the artistry and tradition of movies. Frost cites an article written by Huxley in 1929 called “Silence is Golden” in which he writes about his experience seeing The Jazz Singer. In an article called “Huxley’s Feelies,” author Laura Frost argues that Huxley’s negative view of sexuality as well as erotic media, explained in part by the mores of the early twentieth century, is an integral part in recognizing why and how the novel can often critique sensual pleasure itself, and not the compulsory nature of it. In the case of Brave New World and Aldous Huxley, the historical context of the novel’s inception reveals valuable information. Sex has consistently been a large fixture in culture, but because of fluctuating factors in culture such as religion, politics, and innovations like contraceptives, historical context surrounding views on sexual pleasure are important to address. It is important to address that, in dystopias like Huxley’s, sex is often separated from conception, which makes it easier to condemn and separates it from any possible “purpose” aside from pleasure. Sex, as compared to other types of pleasures like drugs, drinking, or even leisure, is interesting in that it sparks controversial views despite its necessary utility. While there are other forms of pleasure often associated with dystopias, such as drugs like “soma” in Brave New World, this paper will address sexual or sensual pleasures. I show that many of the United State’s current laws are more dystopian than a hypothetical world where sexuality is not shameful and present how an increase in sexual freedom and pleasure can lead to a better, not worse, society. Today, in the early twenty-first century, we are currently seeing a rise in sex workers as well as new pleasure technology, which some are attributing to a collapse in traditional values and associating with an evolution in to a Brave New World-esque society. In the 1976 novel Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy, a society that looks a lot like Huxley’s Brave New World in terms of pleasure, one in which sexuality is fluid and unabashed, is framed as a utopia. Although some of Huxley’s points, particularly his condemnation of compulsory or forced sexuality, resonate to this day, newer literature and changes in public opinion suggest that the way we as a society look at sexual pleasure could be shifting. Huxley describes sexual pleasure as being used to manipulate and distract people from the real pleasure of freedom. Huxley died in California on 22 November 1963.In the iconic 1932 novel Brave New World, author Aldous Huxley characterizes pleasure as a facet of a dystopia. His beliefs found expression in both fiction ( Time Must Have a Stop,1944, and Island, 1962) and non-fiction ( The Perennial Philosophy, 1945 Grey Eminence, 1941 and the account of his first mescaline experience, The Doors of Perception, 1954). The exploration of the inner life through mysticism and hallucinogenic drugs was to dominate his work for the rest of his life. As the West braced itself for war, Huxley came increasingly to believe that the key to solving the world's problems lay in changing the individual through mystical enlightenment. ![]() ![]() ![]() In 1937, at the height of his fame, Huxley left Europe to live in California, working for a time as a screenwriter in Hollywood. The great novels of ideas, including his most famous work Brave New World (published in 1932, this warned against the dehumanising aspects of scientific and material 'progress') and the pacifist novel Eyeless in Gaza (1936) were accompanied by a series of wise and brilliant essays, collected in volume form under titles such as Music at Night (1931) and Ends and Means (1937). For most of the 1920s Huxley lived in Italy and an account of his experiences there can be found in Along the Road (1925). This was swiftly followed by Antic Hay (1923), Those Barren Leaves (1925) and Point Counter Point (1928) – bright, brilliant satires in which Huxley wittily but ruthlessly passed judgement on the shortcomings of contemporary society. He began writing poetry and short stories in his early 20s, but it was his first novel, Crome Yellow (1921), which established his literary reputation. ![]() Aldous Huxley was born on 26 July 1894 near Godalming, Surrey.
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