BRAVE NEW WORLDby Aldous Huxley

Group:Mr. Ritter, Mr.

Ritter, & Mr. Ritter

Aldous Huxley was born in 1894 in England. At a young age he got very sick which led to near-blindness which he struggled with his entire life.He became educated at Oxford, and after graduating, indebted to his father, he taught French for a year. He even taught George Orwell.In his 1937, he moved to America where he wrote screenplays for Hollywood. One time he wrote a screen play for Alice in Wonderland, which Walt Disney rejected because “he could only understand every third word.”He applied for American citizenship but was rejected because he refused to fight in wars for America if he were called upon to do so—this was because Huxley was a pacifist.In his later years, Huxley experimented with a lot of drugs—mostly LSD. He wrote a lot about his psychedelic experiences.He died in 1963 on the same day

Aldous Huxley

Aldous HuxleyAldous Huxley was born in 1894 in England. At a young age he got very sick which led to near-blindness which he struggled with his entire life.He became educated at Oxford, and after graduating, indebted to his father, he taught French for a year. He even taught George Orwell.In his 1937, he moved to America where he wrote screenplays for Hollywood. One time he wrote a screen play for Alice in Wonderland, which Walt Disney rejected because “he could only understand every third word.”He applied for American citizenship but was rejected because he refused to fight in wars for America if he were called upon to do so—this was because Huxley was a pacifist.In his later years, Huxley experimented with a lot of drugs—mostly LSD. He wrote a lot about his psychedelic experiences.He died in 1963 on the same day

Aldous Huxley

“Maybe this world is another planet’s hell.”

1894-1963

HumanistPacifistSatirist

• Born in England• French Teacher/Chemical

Plant• Moved to America• Drug Experimentation• Death Coincidence

“Look in the mirror: do you see Lenina Crowne looking back at you, or do you see John the Savage? Chances are, you'll see something of both, because we've always wanted things both ways. We wish to be as the careless gods, lying around on Olympus, eternally beautiful, having sex and being entertained by the anguish of others. And at the same time we want to be those anguished others, because we believe, with John, that life has meaning beyond the play of the senses, and that immediate gratification will never be enough…”

Literary Criticism

-Margaret Atwood, “Everybody’s Happy Now”, The Guardian.

That [the characters of BNW] are nonetheless not full and complete human beings is quite true; but for all the technology and conditioning and impulses toward uniformity, there is still something profoundly human about them...Huxley's vision of the perfectly planned future is not without hope; for all the genetic engineering and conditioning, basic humanity remains much the same as it always was. Its imperfections and its needs, even under such greatly altered conditions, inevitably reappear. And it is for this reason, I think, that Huxley's vision is so extraordinarily powerful and compelling; because in the people he portrays we can still somehow recognize ourselves.

-Peter Firchow,“The End of Utopia: A Study of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World”