Văn học hậu hiện đại thế giới - Những vấn đề lý thuyết tải về miễn phí cuốn sách

Rajiv Sankarlall rajivsankarlall — I last read Brave New World (in a horrible edition with awful typos all around) and felt the need to say some things about it: * This month I read Nineteen Eighty-Four too and I couldn't avoid comparing both dystopias. I prefer Orwell's, mostly because I felt the urge to stop and reflect every some pages of Nineteen Eigthy-Four, whilst I didn't do so this time. I see the society depicted by Huxley as very possible, real and near. Indeed, I think part of our lives are like those of the inhabitants of that "happy world". We already live surrounded by loads of science and we're economically, physically and even emotially dependent on it. Plus, you should know about the latest biotechnological investigations, their potential is scaring. Besides, most teenagers are of the happy-go-lucky kind, immersed in youth pseudo-subculture, only worried about trivial things. I know - I'm too radical. There are valuable exceptions (Alphas and Betas, maybe?) On the other hand, Orwell's suffocating masterpiece got me really stressed. I couldn't stand the hatred all around, the concealed passions and the banning of books, of language, of free-thinking, of intimacy. Although in Brave New World the aim is the same, the methods aren't so... brusque, if you what I mean. Anyway, I loved the book. * I didn't like the irony the book implied. Hm, I know it sounds strange, given that I usually like that (for heaven sake, Palahniuk and Nothomb are my favorite authors!), but I just didn't like it. I got the feeling it was aimless and indiscriminate. * But what really bugged me was that the usual rebel character in a dystopia, the one that starts or wants to start the revolution against the so-called perfect society didn't exist as a whole and real character, but in a bunch of them. I mean, we could find the features first in Bernard Marx (really intelligent, individual conscience, hates how sex is seen; soon we discover he's only slightly clever, fears the authority and just wants acceptance and women), then Helmholtz Watson (loner, intelligent, beauty-seeker, revolves his pupils; just wants inspiration and freedom to create, which is easily solved), then Lenina (long-lasting relationship, accepts Marx, then the Savage; plainly, she wants to fuck, which she mistakes with passion), lastly, the Savage, but he ends up being a crazy fanatic who speaks in Shakespeare's verses. Okay, the characters evolved, which is really great and pleased me an awful lot. And I would have loved it, if it weren't for the lack of coherence and union, because it gave me a feeling of instability. On the other hand, it could give an idea of how crazy was the Brave New World. * I love Mustapha Mond, the World Controller for Western Europe, as I loved the Inner Party member O'Brien in Nineteen Eighty-Four. These patriarchal characters, who have given up their own convictions, hope and happiness for the sake of society are the best plotted. It's true it's the author who speaks his/her theories right through them, but they do overwhelmingly appeal to me. All in all, I love the book.