I should have read this and commented when published. How f!@$%ng ignorant are you? B.S. masquerading as news for over a decade and you finally realize 1984 has bit you in the ass?
The 1% are in charge of the world and almost in total control, but one if theirs wakes up and wins the U.S. Presidential Election. But wait...the 1% own most if the MSM and are against Trump? Sound familiar? You have chosen the wrong side. The brave new world is your own doing. Enjoy.
7
Leave it to the NYTimes to slander our president in what I thought would be a book review
4
This Age of Trump has come of the decay Huxley anticipated in which the good ole’ boys of Duck Dynasty worthlessly splash about in the swamp doing nothing of any importance beyond splashing around and crowing about it in imitation and support of Trump. Meanwhile Republican-Light Democrats wearing the same kind of expensive pants suits as their Hillary Clinton go on and on about how terrible it is to live so high on the hop under a glass ceiling that keeps them from dancing around in place of the old man God.
Huxley, not Orwell, well paints the fate being suffered in these times (make that enjoyed in these times.)
Huxley, not Orwell, well paints the fate being suffered in these times (make that enjoyed in these times.)
1
Orwell got it exactly right in 1984... about North Korea. Christopher Hitchens - who was a great study of Orwell - lays it out in rather graphic detail, after he visited the totalitarian state with a false identify and by paying hefty bribes. I will allow you to look up the details.
The Utopian/Dystopian end state which Trump, Putin and others of their ilk may be aiming for may be something more like that of LeGuin's "The Dispossessed." Perhaps their scheme would involve using the alleged financing for human space travel to Mars as seed money for establishing a low gravity fairyland on Luna for the .0001% while the rest of us fund them by slogging out the continuing environmental train wreck of the monetization of the despised remainder of humanity back on Terra.
1
Brave New World is updated fairly well in Infinite Jest, including a much better parallel to the germophobic President. Though the world is on the surface more benign than the dystopias listed here, it is more horrific for both the characters' unquestioning acceptance and being so recognizable.
2
The "1984 reaction" reflects the way liberal progressives reacted to the election of Donald Trump. These benighted progressives could not even begin to understand why Trump won and they went into full hysterical reaction mode regarding Trump as the Beginning of the End of the World.
6
A few months on from when you commented, it's not aging well. Trump appears to be more hysterical and blinkered every day.
5
Trump is, admittedly, more Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho than Big Brother or Mustapha Mond. Like President Camacho in <i>Idiocracy</i>, Trump is a dangerous idiot, because he's a con man who believes his own cons.
He can be completely sincere when he's promising to bring jobs back to the Industrialized Midwest and, in the next breath sincerely promise Wall Street he'll roll back even the weak-tea regulations they must follow now - because he's sure he can do both since he's So Much Smarter than those Egghead Ivory Tower Liberals who keep making fun of him! He's rich, and he's been able to keep his money no matter how many times his various ventures have failed - that must mean he's A Sharp Cookie, right? The problem is, the rest of the world isn't nearly as impressed with him as the cozy environs of NYC-based Real Estate seems to be, and it's driving him as nuts as Alec Baldwin or Stephen Colbert making fun of him on television does.
He can be completely sincere when he's promising to bring jobs back to the Industrialized Midwest and, in the next breath sincerely promise Wall Street he'll roll back even the weak-tea regulations they must follow now - because he's sure he can do both since he's So Much Smarter than those Egghead Ivory Tower Liberals who keep making fun of him! He's rich, and he's been able to keep his money no matter how many times his various ventures have failed - that must mean he's A Sharp Cookie, right? The problem is, the rest of the world isn't nearly as impressed with him as the cozy environs of NYC-based Real Estate seems to be, and it's driving him as nuts as Alec Baldwin or Stephen Colbert making fun of him on television does.
3
Neither.
Honors go to "Animal Farm".
"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."
Quick: Who was the first animal to leave?
It was 'Mollie', the pretty little mare who was always tossing her mane to call attention to her pretty red ribbons.
When there is no place for beauty and art... it's time to go.
Trump and the Republicans are demanding that our art and beauty be gone.
They are eliminating the National Endowment For The Arts and The National Endowment Of The Humanities.
When you are deconstructing a society, the first thing that must go is the personal enrichment that comes from the Arts. That enrichment, that untouchable interior pleasure is a danger to all totalitarian societies.
Mollie trots off the scene so early in "Animal Farm" that she is barely noticed, gone in the blink of an eye, and all we are left with is the downward spiral into obscenely hard work (for SOME) and grim environment. But realize, Mollie was a hard worker, too. She was a professional at her job and uncomplaining - until she was stripped of her ribbons, the pretty red ribbons. She lived for her Art. She worked hard for her Art.
She left for her Art.
Beware any society that says that you don't need the Arts.
Beware any society that strips it out of the National venue.
Want to be a deviant, the Resistance to Trump and Pence?
Weave red ribbons in your hair, scarlet, vermilion, ruby.... soft pink...
.... for soon that may be against the law....
Honors go to "Animal Farm".
"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."
Quick: Who was the first animal to leave?
It was 'Mollie', the pretty little mare who was always tossing her mane to call attention to her pretty red ribbons.
When there is no place for beauty and art... it's time to go.
Trump and the Republicans are demanding that our art and beauty be gone.
They are eliminating the National Endowment For The Arts and The National Endowment Of The Humanities.
When you are deconstructing a society, the first thing that must go is the personal enrichment that comes from the Arts. That enrichment, that untouchable interior pleasure is a danger to all totalitarian societies.
Mollie trots off the scene so early in "Animal Farm" that she is barely noticed, gone in the blink of an eye, and all we are left with is the downward spiral into obscenely hard work (for SOME) and grim environment. But realize, Mollie was a hard worker, too. She was a professional at her job and uncomplaining - until she was stripped of her ribbons, the pretty red ribbons. She lived for her Art. She worked hard for her Art.
She left for her Art.
Beware any society that says that you don't need the Arts.
Beware any society that strips it out of the National venue.
Want to be a deviant, the Resistance to Trump and Pence?
Weave red ribbons in your hair, scarlet, vermilion, ruby.... soft pink...
.... for soon that may be against the law....
6
How would sumptuary laws help Ivanka to prosper?
As Huxley implicitly noted, beware any notion of "liberation" that reeks of vanity!
When I read the headline I was going to comment on Neil Postman's "Amusing Ourselves to Death" as a signature book to read during these Times of Trump. Mr Deb has made that unnecessary, and he has my thanks.
Brave New World 10 to 1. We have virtually nothing of the totalitarian rule of 1984
3
Not yet, no. But it's coming.
3
@Zoe It's been around the corner for two years... still waiting... I'm sure you're right. Notice that Trump is so scare that no one will criticize him. Everyone is scared. One only criticizes Trump in hushed tones. God forbid on TV, at the Emmy's or on the pages of the august New York Times. So scary.
What about Ira Levin's This Perfect Day? Christ, Marx, Wood and Wey/Led us to this perfect day...
Levin has a better description of how computer technology can be used to nefarious ends.
Levin has a better description of how computer technology can be used to nefarious ends.
A different approach to dystopia is Richard Christian Matheson's short stories, especially his "Dystopia: Collected Stories" (2000). Here Dystopia is more internalized, which perhaps is the road that will be taken by non-political or introverted victims of Trumpian authoritarianism. RCM's writings display some of the same screenplay talents of his famous father. Just about all the writers cited agree on one thing: controlling and changing language is the very first step a totalitarian must take to control and change people...precisely Trump's daily work.
1
President Trump isn't perfect but he is a quantum leap better than his predecessor, and certainly much better than his opponent in the recent election. It's a joke reading all this verbal hand-wringing, treating the President like evil incarnate. If you think you are so smart, try reading the GULAG Archipelago. Even the first volume will show you what life living in a totalitarian system was really like.
Just because you hate Donald Trump doesn't mean you are right.
Just because you hate Donald Trump doesn't mean you are right.
5
"Brave New World" (which must be read again as an adult with some solid commentary) makes us look at ourselves. "1984" makes us into victims of something out of control.
We've been in BNW creep for a long, long time (especially since the destruction of the World Towers and our reaction to that event as the cataclysm that made us give up), but the new guy on the block is Trump, who has an uncanny resemblance to the model for Huxley's World Controller Mustapha Mond, the real true Alfred Mond, associated with Imperial Chemical Industries (the future BP?) who believed government should be run like a business. There was a great cartoon of the times that depicted a world with "MOND" emblazoned on everything, including Trump-like buildings. I can't find a reference to it at this moment. Mond was more articulate and less gauche but fundamentally like Trump. He admired Mussolin, by the way.
Here's a link to an essay that gets to the heart of BNW in a way one's memory of an unguided adolescent read can't. When I taught sophomore English and included BNW, we read this essay, a bit of a struggle, afterwards.
I highly recommend it: https://opentextbc.ca/englishliterature/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2014...
We've been in BNW creep for a long, long time (especially since the destruction of the World Towers and our reaction to that event as the cataclysm that made us give up), but the new guy on the block is Trump, who has an uncanny resemblance to the model for Huxley's World Controller Mustapha Mond, the real true Alfred Mond, associated with Imperial Chemical Industries (the future BP?) who believed government should be run like a business. There was a great cartoon of the times that depicted a world with "MOND" emblazoned on everything, including Trump-like buildings. I can't find a reference to it at this moment. Mond was more articulate and less gauche but fundamentally like Trump. He admired Mussolin, by the way.
Here's a link to an essay that gets to the heart of BNW in a way one's memory of an unguided adolescent read can't. When I taught sophomore English and included BNW, we read this essay, a bit of a struggle, afterwards.
I highly recommend it: https://opentextbc.ca/englishliterature/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2014...
2
...and these words from Atwood:
In the wake of the recent American election, fears and anxieties proliferate. Basic civil liberties are seen as endangered, along with many of the rights for women won over the past decades, and indeed the past centuries. In this divisive climate, in which hate for many groups seems on the rise and scorn for democratic institutions is being expressed by extremists of all stripes, it is a certainty that someone, somewhere — many, I would guess — are writing down what is happening as they themselves are experiencing it. Or they will remember, and record later, if they can.
Will their messages be suppressed and hidden? Will they be found, centuries later, in an old house, behind a wall?
Let us hope it doesn’t come to that. I trust it will not.
In the wake of the recent American election, fears and anxieties proliferate. Basic civil liberties are seen as endangered, along with many of the rights for women won over the past decades, and indeed the past centuries. In this divisive climate, in which hate for many groups seems on the rise and scorn for democratic institutions is being expressed by extremists of all stripes, it is a certainty that someone, somewhere — many, I would guess — are writing down what is happening as they themselves are experiencing it. Or they will remember, and record later, if they can.
Will their messages be suppressed and hidden? Will they be found, centuries later, in an old house, behind a wall?
Let us hope it doesn’t come to that. I trust it will not.
2
When the (plentiful) artifacts are dug up, this will be remembered as the era of civil war between the snobs (or scolds) and the bullies.
Off the cuff I would agree with Siddhartha Deb that BRAVE NEW WORLD is the more appropriate analogue to the current misery, and I regret having become badly read thus being unable to respond to most of his list of suggested other versions, each of which captures or appears to capture an element of life in Trumpestan. However, neither 1984 nor BRAVE NEW WORLD have the requisite feel for the sinister power that pervades a presidency that derives in equal parts out of Roy Cohn+McCarthy & profound crony mogulist worldwide corruption which is marked by the sinister edge of the mobsterdom.
4
So many excellent recommendations from commenters. How unfortunate that Trumpists wouldn't recognize irony, allusion or allegory if it smacked them up side the head... Meanwhile, my own suggested addition to the dystopian mix is Bladerunner by Alan Nourse. Poor Dr. Nourse. His original story was relegated to a footnote when Ridley Scott absconded with the title for the cinematic treatment of an unrelated dystopian story by Phillip K. Dick. In the Nourse novel, healthcare is rationed on the basis of genetic worthiness or ability to pay. Eerily prescient, right? A bladerunner is a black market dealer in surgical equipment for those who can't afford the legal health care system. Hmmm. You think Ryan read this as a kid?
4
"The Circle" by Dave Eggers depicts a scarily familiar culture in which there is no privacy, and everything is measured in terms of how it rates. Everything from data leaks giving us the private conversations of public officials, to reality TV where it seems there is no limit to what people are willing to subject themselves to, to endless feedback surveys for the simplest transactions are described in the book.
Someone once wrote that "1984" is a future society in which books are banned, and "Brave New World" is a society in which there is no need to ban books because no one would ever want to read one.
Many people close to Trump says he never reads (this partially explains his poor vocabulary and horrendous spelling), I'm afraid that we are very close to living in Huxley's brave new world.
Many people close to Trump says he never reads (this partially explains his poor vocabulary and horrendous spelling), I'm afraid that we are very close to living in Huxley's brave new world.
3
i think it was Katha Pollit who made that remark -- and it think she got that idea from Postman -- not sure about this, but this is a great discussion.
Recently browsing in the library I picked up a book published in 2004 in the U.S. Reading the jacket I found, before a lawsuit permitted its publication, the publisher was threatened with a million dollar fine and ten years in jail by the U.S. government. The book is The Pen Anthology of Contemporary Iranian Literature titled: 'Strange Times My Dear.' Reading its stories gives a clear impression of what living in a dystopian society can be. The tension of the writers breathes through the words. One story in particular of the horrific abuse one women suffered over a lifetime, which kept me awake staring at the ceiling, gives a chilling account of what life can be like in a dystopian society. There is no one to put an end to the horror, because horror is an acceptable fact of daily life.
3
Huxley missed the violence and impoverishment and the environmental destruction. Orwell placed too much faith in power to control its subjects. I'm putting my money on William Gibson's most recent "The Peripheral," an impoverished world with a reduced population loosely controlled by oligarchs.
1
1984 and Brave New World address a problem raised by Thomas Cole's paintings (Course of Empire) and Arnold Toynbee's writing - how to sustain the motivation of a once flourishing society? One uses adversarial conditioning and the other operant conditioning. Conformity versus pleasure. Both 1984 and Brave New World recognize a central controller who is responsible for maintaining a viable state capable of resisting external or internal threats. 1984 has an external threat and is repressive.
Brave New World doesn't, and is pleasure based.
1984's system of coercion achieves conformity according to social status. ["Tarzan" promoted the idea of aristocratic superiority -- where even in a jungle, an aristocrat will rise to be King of the Beasts] In this society, societal motivation is stagnant and the surroundings show it. Spiritually suppressed and physically dragging -- lacking unity or recognizable purpose.
Brave New World depicts a system that emphasizes biologically driven motivation. It stimulates & motivates to the cellular level. It sees itself as creative, but to what purpose? They are preoccupied with pleasure, unaware of other motivational stages that follow the pursuit of pleasure, when we become preoccupied with wealth & power, understanding, contribution, and dying.
Its controller is aware of classics that express these things but he keeps them locked away, least people become depressed by their inadequacy.
They have become (TS Eliot's) Hollow Men. Swinging slowly.
Brave New World doesn't, and is pleasure based.
1984's system of coercion achieves conformity according to social status. ["Tarzan" promoted the idea of aristocratic superiority -- where even in a jungle, an aristocrat will rise to be King of the Beasts] In this society, societal motivation is stagnant and the surroundings show it. Spiritually suppressed and physically dragging -- lacking unity or recognizable purpose.
Brave New World depicts a system that emphasizes biologically driven motivation. It stimulates & motivates to the cellular level. It sees itself as creative, but to what purpose? They are preoccupied with pleasure, unaware of other motivational stages that follow the pursuit of pleasure, when we become preoccupied with wealth & power, understanding, contribution, and dying.
Its controller is aware of classics that express these things but he keeps them locked away, least people become depressed by their inadequacy.
They have become (TS Eliot's) Hollow Men. Swinging slowly.
2
In reading both sides of the debate, I can't but help think of a dystopian book not mentioned by either writer:
John Brunner's excellent and prescient 'Stand on Zanzibar' - The novel featured an unending war on terror, inept political systems, satellite communications, mag lev trains, super computers and corporations basically running not only economies and entire political systems. Many of today's accepted science and technology Brunner predicted in 1968. Outstanding entertainment.
John Brunner's excellent and prescient 'Stand on Zanzibar' - The novel featured an unending war on terror, inept political systems, satellite communications, mag lev trains, super computers and corporations basically running not only economies and entire political systems. Many of today's accepted science and technology Brunner predicted in 1968. Outstanding entertainment.
2
Both "1984" and "Brave New World" were preceded and predicted by "Tarzan" and "Frankenstein." While I favor the darker outsider visions of Phillip K. Dick, Octavia E. Butler, Samuel R. Delany, Frank Herbert and Ursula K. Le Guin.
2
Using myths (ex; "hands up don't shoot") to inspire the masses? Changing or avoiding words in order to promote orthodoxy of thought (ex; new gender-neutral pronouns, avoidance of the phrase "radical Islam")? Substituting indoctrination for education? Hysteria-mongering? Sounds like the Orwellian left to me.
3
I had to address this same question in 1975 when I had a tutorial English class in high school...and one can only conclude that it's just as puerile to leave the answer to anyone else. One needs to take responsibility and draw one's own conclusions.
3
Sales of Orwell's "1984" have spiked, but that novel may now be passé. As Michael Idov--a Russian-born, American journalist who has spent years in Moscow--recently commented:
". . . [T]he residents of a hybrid regime such as Russia's--that is, an autocratic one that retains the facade of democracy--know that the Orwellian notion [of autocratic rule] is needlessly romantic. Russian life . . .[is] marked less by fear than by . . . the all-pervasive cynicism that no institution is to be trusted, because no institution is bigger than the avarice of the person in charge." ["Russia: Life After Trust," New York Magazine (January 23-February 5, 2017), p. 22.]
Will an all pervasive cynicism become a feature of American life as well? Surely the Office of the President cannot be an institution bigger than the avarice of Plutocrat-in-Chief Trump and his family.
President Trump is Mr. Putin's ardent admirer and is purportedly the beneficiary of large loans from Russian banks. To what extent has the U.S. become one more autocratic regime with a facade of democracy? The Republican politicians and conservative jurists have already assured that the U.S. is a plutocracy with a democratic facade. It is not much of a stretch from that political status to autocracy.
With Trump as Manipulator in Chief and with the Ryan-Pence-McConnell regressive agenda soon to come to fruition, the Plutocrats and Kleptocrats will erect a superhighway to serfdom for many formerly middle-class U.S. citizens.
". . . [T]he residents of a hybrid regime such as Russia's--that is, an autocratic one that retains the facade of democracy--know that the Orwellian notion [of autocratic rule] is needlessly romantic. Russian life . . .[is] marked less by fear than by . . . the all-pervasive cynicism that no institution is to be trusted, because no institution is bigger than the avarice of the person in charge." ["Russia: Life After Trust," New York Magazine (January 23-February 5, 2017), p. 22.]
Will an all pervasive cynicism become a feature of American life as well? Surely the Office of the President cannot be an institution bigger than the avarice of Plutocrat-in-Chief Trump and his family.
President Trump is Mr. Putin's ardent admirer and is purportedly the beneficiary of large loans from Russian banks. To what extent has the U.S. become one more autocratic regime with a facade of democracy? The Republican politicians and conservative jurists have already assured that the U.S. is a plutocracy with a democratic facade. It is not much of a stretch from that political status to autocracy.
With Trump as Manipulator in Chief and with the Ryan-Pence-McConnell regressive agenda soon to come to fruition, the Plutocrats and Kleptocrats will erect a superhighway to serfdom for many formerly middle-class U.S. citizens.
11
This review is pure 1984 Newspeak.
3
Without a doubt, -Brave New World- came closer to the mark. The horror of 1984 was approximated in Stalin's Soviet Union. But the world never came close to being totally run by totalitarian super-states.
Unfortunately Huxley's world of pleasure seeking, non-thinking and being mostly vapid is very close to what we have now. The world is two parts Brave New World and one part Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonegut.
Unfortunately Huxley's world of pleasure seeking, non-thinking and being mostly vapid is very close to what we have now. The world is two parts Brave New World and one part Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonegut.
3
I think the more prescient opus is " Discours sur la servitude volontaire" ( Discourse on voluntary servitude) by La Boëtie published in mid- 1500s.One does not need to coerce people with violence to subdue them,simple responses to greed and fear suffice..
3
I am waiting for this administrations next move into the world of Fahrenheit 451, where all reading material is banned as potentially seditious and our information comes from the two way monitors covering our walls.
2
What nonsense. I thought this fake debate had been worn out years ago. Of course, I must admit Trump has given it new life.
2
The New York Times is part of the Ministry of Truth. There is a struggle over who controls it and what the truth is going to be. And which war.
4
I think 1984 is a better novel, but Brave New World is far more prescient. Readers of Brave New World tend to quibble over what Huxley misses. Obviously no one is now saying "in Ford we trust," and things like that. Although the recent adulation of Steve Jobs is not especially far away from what Huxley predicted... Orwell, for me, gets points for writing a book that succeeds more as a novel. Also, Newspeak is very much a part of our daily lives. Not only in politics, but in marketing, academia, some journalism, even postings on Facebook.
7
Here is a wonderful article written by Neil Postman's son... https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/feb/02/amusing-ourselves-to-death...
One final comment in his essay: "We must teach our children, from a very young age, to be skeptics, to listen carefully, to assume everyone is lying about everything. (Well, maybe not everyone.) Check sources. Consider what wasn’t said. Ask questions. Understand that every storyteller has a bias – and so does every platform."
One final comment in his essay: "We must teach our children, from a very young age, to be skeptics, to listen carefully, to assume everyone is lying about everything. (Well, maybe not everyone.) Check sources. Consider what wasn’t said. Ask questions. Understand that every storyteller has a bias – and so does every platform."
8
Good to see a mention of "amusing ourselves to death" by Postman. I was 16 or 17 when I read 1984 and brave new world. Hard to imagine as I read them in a high school, located in the Bible Belt. Perish the thought in 2017.
Amusing ourselves to death is a more recent read. Written before laptop computers and the internet, was a page turner for me, read in one sitting, right on about so much if consumer culture, and 24 hour amusement and lulling ourselves into constant pursuits of feeling good. And actually living absent from real life.,
My guess is an expanded reading list offers more nuance and encourages thinking about how each book point to some aspects of what we are experiencing.
Thing is, Postman's book is not a novel making it all
The more scary.
Amusing ourselves to death is a more recent read. Written before laptop computers and the internet, was a page turner for me, read in one sitting, right on about so much if consumer culture, and 24 hour amusement and lulling ourselves into constant pursuits of feeling good. And actually living absent from real life.,
My guess is an expanded reading list offers more nuance and encourages thinking about how each book point to some aspects of what we are experiencing.
Thing is, Postman's book is not a novel making it all
The more scary.
6
With sex, drugs, and consumerism, Huxley's seems the dystopia of choice.
2
Trump's political theatre = dangerousness.
Starting an illegal war under GWB = safety (and feeling united).
1984 less prescient? This piece brought me right there. That's what great fiction can do.
Starting an illegal war under GWB = safety (and feeling united).
1984 less prescient? This piece brought me right there. That's what great fiction can do.
1
Neal Postman's conclusion was that Huxley's version seemed more relevant. His chilling statement was that what we love will destroy us. It seems to be a double whammy now. Destroyed from without and from within.
1
It seems that we're taking both barrels of dystopia. Obama's presidency closely resembles Huxley's "Brave New World," while Donald Trump promises to be more like Orwell's "1984."
1
talking about refugee crisis, there is no better movie that gets it right than "Children of Men" (thank God Zika has been controlled otherwise I would have suspected movie director to have a time machine).
Only climate change then "MaddAddam" series is very close.
Lets hope American doesn't transform to "American History X"!
Only climate change then "MaddAddam" series is very close.
Lets hope American doesn't transform to "American History X"!
3
Don't leave out the movie, "A Face In The Crowd". Starring Andy Griffith of all people.
5
Neither. The nove that got it right (mostly) is "Player Piano" by Vonnegut.
4
I remember getting slammed by a literature professor for writing the world of the late seventies was becoming what Huxley predicted. He was very vicious with not just me but nearly every open enrollment student and there were many of us. If he was so great what was he doing teaching at a community college? I learned a lot from him, not about Huxley, but to stay away from litarary snots who think books are reality and care more about fictional characters than real people.
Wonder what he would thought of BNW being compared Trump. Not really his opinions are still worthless as they were forty years ago.
Wonder what he would thought of BNW being compared Trump. Not really his opinions are still worthless as they were forty years ago.
3
What about Ayn Rand’s 1957 novel, “Atlas Shrugged”? In “Atlas Shrugged” the most prominent and successful industrialists and entrepreneurs, facing burdensome government regulations, abandon their businesses in disgust leading to the collapse of vital industries and soon society itself. Industrialists and entrepreneurs are probably very much enjoying the Trump government, but they are not the only group that makes the US run. As a scientist I am totally disgusted with Trump’s anti-scientific policies and his embrace of non-scientists in key policy making positions. I have had it up to here (visualize my hand being held very high). What if Atlas Ph.D. shrugged?
If your GPS stops working (and I don’t mean the thing in your phone – I mean the satellites whipping around in outer space) or if your loved one gets sick with an incurable disease or if the planet really heats up and there is no more room left in Alaska whom are you going to call? A Political Science major? An MBA? An English major? A lawyer? Good luck.
If your GPS stops working (and I don’t mean the thing in your phone – I mean the satellites whipping around in outer space) or if your loved one gets sick with an incurable disease or if the planet really heats up and there is no more room left in Alaska whom are you going to call? A Political Science major? An MBA? An English major? A lawyer? Good luck.
7
'Atlas Shrugged' is a terrible novel, in part simply because Ayn Rand is a terrible writer (and I am not going to debate that, but take it as axiomatic). But OTOH Kurt Vonnegut's short story 'Harrison Bergeron' is something Rand might have written had she had talent, and sometimes - especially reading the NYT comments from Social Justice Warriors and various anti-'elitists' in the news and opinion sections - I have wondered whether Vonnegut's dystopia was not well on its way to reality, or would be if some 'progressives' had their way. 'I am Envy,' says a spirit in the Seven Deadly Sins sequence of Marlowe's 'Doctor Faustus'[*]; 'I cannot read, and therefore wish all books were burnt. ... But shall thou stand and I sit? Come down, with a vengeance!'
[*] A collaborator, rather than Marlowe, may have contributed that particular scene.
[*] A collaborator, rather than Marlowe, may have contributed that particular scene.
1
True that. I only got through the first bit. But they way the author said that she was the only one who knew how to plan a railway was bombastic and heavy handed. More story for teens or tweens.
1
Society of the Spectacle by Guy DeBord
2
Mr. Deb, THANK YOU! I am so glad that you gave Octavia Butler her due here. As an English teacher who taught "Parable of the Sower" to high schoolers in Brooklyn just last year, I can attest to her extraordinary prescience and her incredible skill.
5
"Brave New World" was not the only book Huxley wrote that was set in the future. The dystopian "Ape and Essence" takes place after World War Three in a bombed-out Los Angeles. And his final novel, "Island," projects an almost hippie-like communal utopia. Of these three, "Brave New World" is the most insightful. As others have pointed out--controlling the masses through consumerism with heavy doses of sex and drugs will work much better than torture and 24-hour surveillance cameras in your bedroom.
3
Now you mention it, and going back to Mr McGrath's mention that Huxley hated HG Wells' work, we might consider the world of 'The Time Machine', in which the troglodytic Morlock underclass preys on the effete Eloi.
4
"It Can't Happen Here".
4
Wow, to draw a link between 1984 and Trump. I am still shocked to have discovered that the left are not the peace loving flower children I thought they were. They are truly delusional. This hysteria is really really scaring me. It is going to destroy this country.
2
Steve Miller is hysteria personified. Bannon is crazier, but with more self-control.
Trump is more likely to destroy this country than a bunch of Lefties reading an old book.
Trump is more likely to destroy this country than a bunch of Lefties reading an old book.
8
Alternate facts? Discussing national security in a private club in full virw of wealthy (likely) DJT supporters? Pictures on FB of same? Beautiful phones? Encouraging Russia? Tweeting in the middle of the night? Knowing damaging security info about someone you appointed and doing nothing with it until it's plastered all over every publication ( perhaps with an interesting spin in Breitbart)? Blatant commercial from the WH press room?
That doesn't scare you?
You may get the policies you want from DJT somehow but they will come with strings attached. Only time will tell how much this will cost and I don't mean money.
That doesn't scare you?
You may get the policies you want from DJT somehow but they will come with strings attached. Only time will tell how much this will cost and I don't mean money.
4
I would tend to support those who favor Fahrenheit 451. Video screens are the source of almost all information. There is a scene in which Linda is anxious for a program host to ask her for her opinion. Today nothing is as important as having one's opinion posted, whether on this website, Twitter, Yelp, TripAdvisor, or FaceBook. People post provocative statements online hoping to be noticed and ReTweeted. Leslie Jones was viciously attacked, not because she isn't excellent at her job, but because haters draw eyeballs...and clicks.
I would suggest the short story, The Rollerball Murders, or the original movie as a great representation of our President's dystopian vision for America. Sports, the more violent the better, not Soma, is the drug that keeps the masses pacified. Corporations and their rules, not countries and their laws, govern the world. And accurate information is slowly slipping away into complete irrelevance. Sad.
I would suggest the short story, The Rollerball Murders, or the original movie as a great representation of our President's dystopian vision for America. Sports, the more violent the better, not Soma, is the drug that keeps the masses pacified. Corporations and their rules, not countries and their laws, govern the world. And accurate information is slowly slipping away into complete irrelevance. Sad.
6
Bread and Circuses.
I'm always reminded of 451F when ever an amber alert goes out. Technology can just as easily be used for good and evil....
I'm always reminded of 451F when ever an amber alert goes out. Technology can just as easily be used for good and evil....
6
The book I haven't been able to get out of my head since Trump 'won' is Erskine Caldwell's 'Tobacco Road'. Trump, his entourage, and particularly his 'left-behind' supporters remind me of a the ignorant, self-sabotaging, selfish, amoral lot that destroyed everything they owned and themselves without an iota of compassion or human decency. The characters to a one were base animals, deprived of life's most basic needs by their own unwillingness to join the modern world.
This is the novel that explains the MAGA crowd to the proverbial 'T'. They would rather destroy themselves if it means getting a chance to destroy the 'other', LGBTQ, women, immigrants, Muslims, Disabled, Jews... They value nothing but saccharine nostalgia for a world that never really existed.
This is the novel that explains the MAGA crowd to the proverbial 'T'. They would rather destroy themselves if it means getting a chance to destroy the 'other', LGBTQ, women, immigrants, Muslims, Disabled, Jews... They value nothing but saccharine nostalgia for a world that never really existed.
9
seeing how we already basically have pigoons, based on a recent report in these very pages concerning using pig embryos as stem cell receptacles for organ growth, I would nominate Margaret Atwood's "Oryx and Crake" for the grand prize. Her predictions of a number of other trends, most notably concerning global warming as well as the insularity and obliviousness of all those Bright Young Things in Silicon Valley, seem to be coming to pass as well, unhappily.
5
Try this 1984 came true in 1984.
reagan and his criminal cabal had already destroyed enough regulation and helped set up the basis for todays “internet of things”. That basis was the laws they created to allow corporations to amass large databases of our personal information.
That amassed data is what is being and is going to be the source tool used to end freedom and return the world to a place where all countries are run by the 1%. It has been going on since reagan but people do not notice because the changes that are leading us there look like responses to real problems. One psychological tool being used is false compassion and empathy that refuses to accept any level of danger in society. The same people will tell you freely interference in biology has done so much harm but do not see their refusal to accept danger is as undermining and steadily destructive as GMO organisms.
We were already less free then when credit agencies and collection agencies colluded to use their new power to extort millions of people, holding them down in poverty and all the misery that leads to for decades longer than they might have been. That is if they ever got out of it. It was then that I first started to notice the “targeted” sorts of responses I would get when calling places. The sorts of answers that seemed uncannily directed right at my most vulnerable places. It is even subtler now.
It was/is every bit as evil and bad as 1984 shows it to be. AFAIK I never read Brave New World.
reagan and his criminal cabal had already destroyed enough regulation and helped set up the basis for todays “internet of things”. That basis was the laws they created to allow corporations to amass large databases of our personal information.
That amassed data is what is being and is going to be the source tool used to end freedom and return the world to a place where all countries are run by the 1%. It has been going on since reagan but people do not notice because the changes that are leading us there look like responses to real problems. One psychological tool being used is false compassion and empathy that refuses to accept any level of danger in society. The same people will tell you freely interference in biology has done so much harm but do not see their refusal to accept danger is as undermining and steadily destructive as GMO organisms.
We were already less free then when credit agencies and collection agencies colluded to use their new power to extort millions of people, holding them down in poverty and all the misery that leads to for decades longer than they might have been. That is if they ever got out of it. It was then that I first started to notice the “targeted” sorts of responses I would get when calling places. The sorts of answers that seemed uncannily directed right at my most vulnerable places. It is even subtler now.
It was/is every bit as evil and bad as 1984 shows it to be. AFAIK I never read Brave New World.
3
When Ronald Reagan campaigned for re-election against Walter Mondale in 1984. I had a t-shirt that I purchased through the mail from an ad I found in The New Republic magazine. The t-shirt said:
WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
VOTE REPUBLICAN 1984.
WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
VOTE REPUBLICAN 1984.
6
What about Kafka's "The Trial"? Last November I felt like I was in a nightmare. It's only getting worse.
9
But for many millions of us, our nightmare ended on January 20th, despite the childish tantrums of many "progressives", starting as soon as it was announced Donald Trump won the election, disrupting state Electoral College tallies, and continuing to the present day. Four more years of "progressive" rule would have ruined our country beyond any hope of repair.
1
The great Twilight Zone episode "Monsters are Due on Maple Street" comes to mind lately. I looked up the closing narration to refresh my memory:
"The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices – to be found only in the minds of men. For the record, prejudices can kill – and suspicion can destroy – and a thoughtless frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all of its own – for the children – and the children yet unborn. And the pity of it is – that these things cannot be confined – to the Twilight Zone."
"The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices – to be found only in the minds of men. For the record, prejudices can kill – and suspicion can destroy – and a thoughtless frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all of its own – for the children – and the children yet unborn. And the pity of it is – that these things cannot be confined – to the Twilight Zone."
8
That the one with the false nuke attack where they all try to crowd into one houses fallout shelter?
No, the one Gil is thinking of is titled 'The Shelter'. I will not provide spoilers for 'The Monsters Are Due' except to say it is in fact timely. (It was also remade some years ago in one of the TZ syndicated revivals, and quite well, too.)
Trump is too stupid to be either Big Brother or Ford Ford. He's more like the King of East Grinstead in Michael Moorcock's The Land Leviathan, i.e. a bloviating racist. Or maybe the lead character in A Boy and His Dog, Harlin Ellison's novel about a total he-man woman-hater who drives through the post-apocalyptic landscape with only his murderous dog. Discussion of these English dystopian books are too easy, but utterly inappropriate.
2
Well now you've broken my heart. I've been waiting for an article like this for weeks. To have such smart people talking about this issue and NOT to feature Animal Farm front and center? THAT is the book that should be flying off the shelves. Alas and alack. And on Valentine's Day too. Booo!
9
LOL! Animals shall not sleep in beds with pillows!!
Why does it have to be one or the other. If we view the lure of pleasure, genomics and mindless culture of "Brave New World" as the carrot, and the surveillance, torture and jackboots of "1984" as the stick, then our current reality is more than large enough to simultaneously encompass both.
10
Or Dostoevsky's micro-dystopian story, "A Gentle Creature," where a young bride must battle the delusion of her egomaniac husband (a draining personal struggle) like many of us face with Trump each day.
http://www.sfreporter.com/santafe/article-12686-dostoevsky-deconstructs-...
http://www.sfreporter.com/santafe/article-12686-dostoevsky-deconstructs-...
2
Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis more adequately explains the Trump base and hence the Trump phenomenon.
3
To answer the question in the Age of Trump the first step is to take a look at what Trump is.
From the very beginning, i.e., Trump's appearance in the Manhattan real estate world, Trump set out to have the ultimate fixer as his mentor, Roy Cohn. Trump claims to be a "counter-puncher," but his counterpunching always consists of false facts. Trump's explanation of dealing with organized crime is "necessity." Trump agreed to be the front for the Genovese & Bruno-"Scarfo crime families in his first Atlantic City casino, Trump Plaza & became the AC Whitey Bulger with his FBI agreement to protect Trump from the fallout. The NJ Casino Control Commission forced Trump to buy out his OC partners but that did not stop Trump from paying them for the buyout inflated prices for their interests while stiffing the little people who provided goods & services. Trump ran his AC casinos as "bust out" operations by ordering much in the way of goods & services with the intent not to pay what was owed thereby leaving AC with much money while his casinos owed much debt.
In sum, Trump is not a good businessman, unless theft by deception is viewed as a good business practice. Trump from his experience believes all is rigged or can be fixed; that certainly excludes Trump from being a capitalist & places Trump squarely in the circle of Might makes Right. Clearly Trump will use any & all means against anyone who offends Allmighty Trump
Definitely 1984
From the very beginning, i.e., Trump's appearance in the Manhattan real estate world, Trump set out to have the ultimate fixer as his mentor, Roy Cohn. Trump claims to be a "counter-puncher," but his counterpunching always consists of false facts. Trump's explanation of dealing with organized crime is "necessity." Trump agreed to be the front for the Genovese & Bruno-"Scarfo crime families in his first Atlantic City casino, Trump Plaza & became the AC Whitey Bulger with his FBI agreement to protect Trump from the fallout. The NJ Casino Control Commission forced Trump to buy out his OC partners but that did not stop Trump from paying them for the buyout inflated prices for their interests while stiffing the little people who provided goods & services. Trump ran his AC casinos as "bust out" operations by ordering much in the way of goods & services with the intent not to pay what was owed thereby leaving AC with much money while his casinos owed much debt.
In sum, Trump is not a good businessman, unless theft by deception is viewed as a good business practice. Trump from his experience believes all is rigged or can be fixed; that certainly excludes Trump from being a capitalist & places Trump squarely in the circle of Might makes Right. Clearly Trump will use any & all means against anyone who offends Allmighty Trump
Definitely 1984
7
As if his opponent in the election, and his predecessor as President, were any better.
Pot, meet kettle.
Pot, meet kettle.
One thing that Orwell and some other dystopian literature got very wrong was the quaint notion that the government would have to have a Ministry of Truth that would surgically erase all documentation of the past and anything that contradicts the official line on order to control the populace. We now know that you can have the truth out there for all to see and the most universal access to information the world has ever known and people will still believe what they want to believe.
Perhaps China can learn a lesson from this.
Perhaps China can learn a lesson from this.
8
The Ministry of Truth was a metaphor.
As for people believing what they want to that is a misinterpretation of the facts.
The most likely reason for failure to take in new information and change positions based on it is that the person does not have the educational level/ability to understand how to use the new information to confirm it or refute it often going as far as not even trying to check it before rejecting it. That is a correctable condition that was intentionally created.
As for people believing what they want to that is a misinterpretation of the facts.
The most likely reason for failure to take in new information and change positions based on it is that the person does not have the educational level/ability to understand how to use the new information to confirm it or refute it often going as far as not even trying to check it before rejecting it. That is a correctable condition that was intentionally created.
3
The dumbing down of America has now come to fruition.
5
Kurt Vonnegut's "Player Piano" and E. J. Forster's "The Machine Stops" (a short story).
2
We are living with aspects of both novels in our lives. We have many brands of Soma now and have bought into "a gram is better than a damn." But our TVs are also watching us now, and so are our cars. Since the route one plans to take in a so-called "autonomous car" has to be programmed into the controls in advance and is therefore knowable to the company that sold you the car, the word "autonomous" has been co-opted by Newspeak.
1
I think you can find something describing the post-2016 America in every dystopia of those mentioned earlier. However, the one that that describes the feeling in the air most closely - and the one that describes the actual political scene with the most chilling level of similarity - is It Can't Happen Here by Lewis Sinclair. We MUST wake up. NOW. Before it is too late.
2
Neither. Both Orwell and Huxley overstate the case and predict weirdness that has yet to happen. Read "White Noise" by Don DeLillo. Less dystopia, perhaps, but exactly what's happening to us in the post-truth world.
1
Neat trick to discuss dystopian novels and deftly avoid science fiction beyond the obligatory one liner. Those willing to risk literary dissent should explore:
The Space Merchants, by Pohl and Kornbluth. In the best of this duo’s 50s novels, marketers sell the public on the hellhole of Venus. When an adman tumbles from grace he learns Earth is not much better. See Voltaire.
Distraction, by Bruce Sterling. Sterling’s 80's/90’s novels survey kaleidoscopic theme worlds. Holy Fire is about health care; Islands in the Net covers the web before it existed; Distraction does politics. Voltaire meets cyberpunk.
Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner tackles overpopulation via a surfeit of literary devices. See Dos Passos.
Robert Heinlein perhaps surprisingly wrote incessantly on dystopian futures. His rugged individualists toured surprisingly contemporary calamities. Later novels like Friday or Job have the most deluxe rides but 1940 clunker “If This Goes On—“ gives the scariest “alternate present." Televangelist Nehemiah Scudder turns the U.S. into a theocracy in 2012 via hi-tech miracles and a military priesthood akin to what’s brewing at the real Air Force Academy. There is no election in 2016.
Camp Concentration by Thomas M. Disch (1968) posits a Guantanamo-Tuskegee where homosexuals and dissidents unwillingly test a drug that boosts intelligence but induces AIDS-like symptoms. Way smarter than Flowers for Algernon and thirteen years ahead of the real plague.
—Mark Martel
The Space Merchants, by Pohl and Kornbluth. In the best of this duo’s 50s novels, marketers sell the public on the hellhole of Venus. When an adman tumbles from grace he learns Earth is not much better. See Voltaire.
Distraction, by Bruce Sterling. Sterling’s 80's/90’s novels survey kaleidoscopic theme worlds. Holy Fire is about health care; Islands in the Net covers the web before it existed; Distraction does politics. Voltaire meets cyberpunk.
Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner tackles overpopulation via a surfeit of literary devices. See Dos Passos.
Robert Heinlein perhaps surprisingly wrote incessantly on dystopian futures. His rugged individualists toured surprisingly contemporary calamities. Later novels like Friday or Job have the most deluxe rides but 1940 clunker “If This Goes On—“ gives the scariest “alternate present." Televangelist Nehemiah Scudder turns the U.S. into a theocracy in 2012 via hi-tech miracles and a military priesthood akin to what’s brewing at the real Air Force Academy. There is no election in 2016.
Camp Concentration by Thomas M. Disch (1968) posits a Guantanamo-Tuskegee where homosexuals and dissidents unwillingly test a drug that boosts intelligence but induces AIDS-like symptoms. Way smarter than Flowers for Algernon and thirteen years ahead of the real plague.
—Mark Martel
2
Went through all of Heinlein in one year senior year of High School '73. Expanded and blew my mind at the same time.
1
Then there is Eugene Zamitan's 'We' to be considered in this mix of books.
2
Thank you, Doug. I've been hoping that someone would bring up Zamyatin, who was a major influence on both Huxley and Orwell. It was Zamyatin who first came up with the inversion of everyday language, so that, for example, the public executioner is called the Benefactor. Zamyatin's dystopia also features dumbed-down science, ceaseless surveillance, control of sexual behaviour, and an utter contempt for other civilisations.
2
Hi Laurence,
After my post, I 'rummaged around' my library and 'dusted off' all three books. I had read Orwell and Huxley in high school before ever getting to Zamyatin in college. I was amazed by its author's origin and date of publication. Thanks for your public summary. (PS: are you a Celtic or Rangers supporter? No need to respond to that. I lived in Glasgow for two years. Loved the time.)
After my post, I 'rummaged around' my library and 'dusted off' all three books. I had read Orwell and Huxley in high school before ever getting to Zamyatin in college. I was amazed by its author's origin and date of publication. Thanks for your public summary. (PS: are you a Celtic or Rangers supporter? No need to respond to that. I lived in Glasgow for two years. Loved the time.)
"What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture."
Neil Postman
Neil Postman
24
Yes. Must read.
1
Well said, and very accurate.
This article is a pretty good example of double think.
1. Donald Trump enters the White House, says disruptive things, and the world becomes dystopian.
2. George W Bush invades Iraq, and the US unites around a show of strength to keep itself secure. Never mind that the war was illegal, unjustified, and disastrous. Illegal under international law because the UN did not approve it and Iraq was not a threat. Even if there were WMD's, that's no excuse. (To those who say it was legal because congress okayed the president: that's US law, which does not override international law. Or shouldn't.) 500 000 civilian deaths and counting.
Donald trump will almost have to start WW3 to be demonstratively worse than GWB. But everyone seems to love the buffoon. Go figure. And if you are worried about Trump, at least try not to get GWB's autograph next time you see him.
3. Theme for next dystopian novel: political theatre: dangerousness. War to unite the masses: safety. 1984 less prescient? Give me a break, puh-leese. I'm in 1984 right now. Thanks for that, its quite an experience.
1. Donald Trump enters the White House, says disruptive things, and the world becomes dystopian.
2. George W Bush invades Iraq, and the US unites around a show of strength to keep itself secure. Never mind that the war was illegal, unjustified, and disastrous. Illegal under international law because the UN did not approve it and Iraq was not a threat. Even if there were WMD's, that's no excuse. (To those who say it was legal because congress okayed the president: that's US law, which does not override international law. Or shouldn't.) 500 000 civilian deaths and counting.
Donald trump will almost have to start WW3 to be demonstratively worse than GWB. But everyone seems to love the buffoon. Go figure. And if you are worried about Trump, at least try not to get GWB's autograph next time you see him.
3. Theme for next dystopian novel: political theatre: dangerousness. War to unite the masses: safety. 1984 less prescient? Give me a break, puh-leese. I'm in 1984 right now. Thanks for that, its quite an experience.
4
Add Philip Roth's "A Plot Against America" to your list, Mr. Deb. The parallels between celebrity presidents imagined and real (Lindbergh and Trump) are uncanny.
One stooge president compromised by the Germans. The other stooge president compromised by the Russians.
Anti-semitism and Anti-Muslim parallels as well.
One stooge president compromised by the Germans. The other stooge president compromised by the Russians.
Anti-semitism and Anti-Muslim parallels as well.
2
Sinclair Lewis's 1935 "It Can't Happen here" may even be a better read in the age of Trumpism. Obviously not the publicity of Huxley and Orwell.
1
I'd also mention Chance the Gardener, in "Being There".
5
"Lord of the Flies"
(1) Pack of feckless schoolboys (anti-intellectual bullies)—check.
(2) Marooned on an island without adult or civilizing constraints (elected or appointed to offices with near absolute power)—check.
(3) Fearful for survival (competing with those new economies)—check
(4) Draw on poorly understood myths and cultural allusions (fake news and truthiness)—check.
(5) Dance around bonfires to show off their lack or restraint and gloat about their prowess (grabby hands, small hands, weird ceremonial handshake wrestling, bragging, 'locker room talk')—check.
(5) Then go on fully Social Darwinian rampages (target members of the group who are perceived as 'weaker', more sensitive or more enlightened and socially responsible)—check.
(7) Descend into a Hobbesian Chaotic Hellworld. Has it only been 3 weeks?
(8) Rescue plane with adults arrive along with consequences and sobering reality.
Except these were only boys, not grownups.
(1) Pack of feckless schoolboys (anti-intellectual bullies)—check.
(2) Marooned on an island without adult or civilizing constraints (elected or appointed to offices with near absolute power)—check.
(3) Fearful for survival (competing with those new economies)—check
(4) Draw on poorly understood myths and cultural allusions (fake news and truthiness)—check.
(5) Dance around bonfires to show off their lack or restraint and gloat about their prowess (grabby hands, small hands, weird ceremonial handshake wrestling, bragging, 'locker room talk')—check.
(5) Then go on fully Social Darwinian rampages (target members of the group who are perceived as 'weaker', more sensitive or more enlightened and socially responsible)—check.
(7) Descend into a Hobbesian Chaotic Hellworld. Has it only been 3 weeks?
(8) Rescue plane with adults arrive along with consequences and sobering reality.
Except these were only boys, not grownups.
4
Happiness Ltd., by Michael McGhee
1
How about Woman on the Edge of Time, by Marge Piercy. Right now, I'm ready for Mattapoisett.
1
DFW's Infinite Jest, p. 382 describes how a germophobic former entertainer rides a populist wave to defeat HRC and then through incompetence allows terrorists to destroy us using our addiction to technology. Why wasn't this novel mentioned?
5
I would say it is more telling that Trump and his cadre evoke so many recollections of dystopian novels, as opposed to hope and optimism for the future. Figuring out which novel(s) fit the bill is secondary. Thus, I would have to agree with Mr. Deb to a greater extent than I agree with Mr. McGrath.
3
Neither Huxley nor Orwell nails it; the future never happens the way you think it will. (If Orwell's dystopia has come to pass, it may be in North Korea.) Such novels are like the verses of Nostradamus, which when explicated always prove to be remarkably accurate applied to history, but then go off the rails when interpreted to predict the future. I do agree Huxley and Bradbury capture elements of our present culture. 'It Can't Happen Here' (a great and necessary book for its time, though a truly awful novel), is closer, I think, than either Huxley or Orwell, though again, it doesn't fit; and who, having waded through it once, would wish to return voluntarily?
Philip Roth's 'The Plot Against America' is often mentioned, rightly, I think, as closer than any of these to our present morass.
You might also want to consider transcending overtly political novels and turn to more overarching philosophical works for perspective; say, Camus' 'The Plague', Yourcenar's 'The Abyss', both of which deal with turbulent times, or the works of Kafka.
Philip Roth's 'The Plot Against America' is often mentioned, rightly, I think, as closer than any of these to our present morass.
You might also want to consider transcending overtly political novels and turn to more overarching philosophical works for perspective; say, Camus' 'The Plague', Yourcenar's 'The Abyss', both of which deal with turbulent times, or the works of Kafka.
3
I'm reading "It Can't Happen Here," by Sinclair Lewis. It helps to know some of the history of the 1930s or you'll get bogged down in the names that aren't familiar anymore. If you read it, but feel intimidated by the first part, keep going because about 50% in, when people are fleeing into Canada or disappearing into concentration camps, the story becomes very exciting.
3
As others have said, "Brave New World" is the better novel, and more prescient. It portended where capitalism and consumerism more or less evolved. Totalitarianism did not last as long. Perhaps our society is not far behind.
However, "1984" gave us the David Bowie song. Today I am sure these lyrics have meaning for people of color:
"Will you sleep in fear tonight?
Wake to find the scorching light of neighbour Jim
He's come to turn you in"
https://youtu.be/EJORm7Hgt94
However, "1984" gave us the David Bowie song. Today I am sure these lyrics have meaning for people of color:
"Will you sleep in fear tonight?
Wake to find the scorching light of neighbour Jim
He's come to turn you in"
https://youtu.be/EJORm7Hgt94
9
The Plot Against America by Philip Roth
It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis
It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis
26
I agree, Susan. Here is a succinct comparison of Buzz Windrip in "It Can't Happen Here" (1935) to our beloved President Trump:
http://www.sfreporter.com/santafe/article-12959-it-can%E2%80%99t-happen-...
Read on, amiga!!
http://www.sfreporter.com/santafe/article-12959-it-can%E2%80%99t-happen-...
Read on, amiga!!
1
I find "It Can't Happen Here" with its "America First" senator turned fascist dictator who campaigns against bankers, then puts them in charge of the economy, and starts a war with Mexico to divert attention from the stripping away of people's rights, to be amazingly prescient. Because it takes place in the US it's more relevant, to me, than Brave New World.
Actually, "Fahrenheit 451" feels eerily prescient these days.
9
Machiavelli's "The Prince" - take credit for all good, deflect blame - appear to be all good things to as many as possible, better to be feared than loved
Both of these books were ridiculous simplifications of modern reality-the cancer that is infecting 21st century America is immensely more complex, more volatile, and most of all, less "under control." We are not drifting into passive peacefulness; we are headed for a period of vicious conflict to rival the Civil War.
6
Not a single mention of "The Handmaid's Tale"? Where a bunch of misogynistic religious fanatics take over the US and try to deny women their essential humanity?
That was the book that scared me.
That was the book that scared me.
66
I'd also strongly recommend Katharine Burdekin's Swastika NIght (1936) for its satire on Nazi grandiosity, false history, hero-worship, and the subjugation of women.
1
America, as stated in these articles, has been more "Brave New World" than "1984" until Trump. Russia was more "1984." Now "1984" is selling because of Trumpism and Trump's closeness to Putin and Russia.
However, no one is talking about one of the scariest futuristic books of the 20th century, "On the Beach." It envisions what is left (very little) after nuclear holocaust. It should be read, given the proximity of 45's finger to the nuclear codes.
However, no one is talking about one of the scariest futuristic books of the 20th century, "On the Beach." It envisions what is left (very little) after nuclear holocaust. It should be read, given the proximity of 45's finger to the nuclear codes.
11
Agreed.
2
Exactly - if anyone is left to read it at that point!
1
That movie left me frightened for months as a child. I had thought all that was gone with the wall coming down.
1
In my opinion Huxley . Hands down . Why is simple . " 1984" is predicated on a conspiracy forced on the population by the government in order to control the people with constant surveillance , mind control etc
Whereas in " Brave New World " the general population due to their addiction to entertainment and convenience to the detriment of their freedom exacerbated by a mind numbing drug .... beg for more . Also I'll second Dr--Bob's recommendation of Postman's book .. adding ; Jaques Ellul's " Propaganda - John Lukacs's " At the End of An Age " / " Democracy & Populism " and of course the obvious " Future Shock " Suffice it to say anyone with 'Eyes Wide Open ' has seen a ' Trump ' like figure ascending from a mile away . With all his little Trumpoids following in lock step like lemmings to a cliff
Whereas in " Brave New World " the general population due to their addiction to entertainment and convenience to the detriment of their freedom exacerbated by a mind numbing drug .... beg for more . Also I'll second Dr--Bob's recommendation of Postman's book .. adding ; Jaques Ellul's " Propaganda - John Lukacs's " At the End of An Age " / " Democracy & Populism " and of course the obvious " Future Shock " Suffice it to say anyone with 'Eyes Wide Open ' has seen a ' Trump ' like figure ascending from a mile away . With all his little Trumpoids following in lock step like lemmings to a cliff
4
And don't leave out Margaret Atwood's brilliant "The Handmaid's Tale" in which she imagines what might happen if the Religious Right took over the U.S. government and imposed their version of "Christianity" on the populace. Second to "1984," it's the most chilling book I've ever read.
45
Ubik by Phillip K. Dick
4
I'm just now coming to realize that all the feelings of unease I experienced during the primaries and the election cycle were not due to similarities I saw between Trump and the Big Three of Stalin, Mussolini and Hitler, but very old and deeply impressed memories of "1984" and "Brave New World". I think when you read such works that make a deep impression on you at a young age you assume that everyone else in the world has also read them and therefore everyone is pre-armed against such things actually coming into being.
Wrong!
Wrong!
6
"All you need to do, he said, is teach people to love their servitude."
Did Huxley skim 1984 or give up before the ending?
In my opinion, those last couple sentences are some of the most memorable in all of literature:
"He gazed up at the enormous face. Forty years it had taken him to learn what kind of smile was hidden beneath the dark moustache. O cruel, needless misunderstanding! O stubborn, self-willed exile from the loving breast! Two gin-scented tears trickled down the sides of his nose. But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother."
Did Huxley skim 1984 or give up before the ending?
In my opinion, those last couple sentences are some of the most memorable in all of literature:
"He gazed up at the enormous face. Forty years it had taken him to learn what kind of smile was hidden beneath the dark moustache. O cruel, needless misunderstanding! O stubborn, self-willed exile from the loving breast! Two gin-scented tears trickled down the sides of his nose. But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother."
6
You should have added what came after that.
The bullet hit him in the back of the head.
The bullet hit him in the back of the head.
3
I've been a big fan of dystopian fiction for the last 30 years. I agree with a few others here that "It Can't Happen Here" most closely describes what we're seeing today. And like "A Clockwork Orange", the book's biting satire can be very funny.
10
Neither. The driving mythos of DT is more akin to 20,000 Leagues Beneath the Sea by Jules Vernes. Nemo as Nemisis 'angel of hatred' & vengeance. Delusional and answerable to no countries laws, Nautilus roams the seas as a mythological beast causing chaos. OctoPOTUS as Nemisis. Nemo as a aristocratic delusional complex, living 'beneath the sea' and wrecking havoc on the seafaring world. OctoPOTUS is now in charge & we are all 'captives' of a delusional Captain Nemo, Donald Trump. Nemo as Nemisis.
2
Regis, Captain Nemo was at the very least an educated delusional narcissist, possessed of real scientific and engineering talent. His hatred for mankind was motivated by his love for and deep sense of sympathy with the natural world. I would not compare him with Trump, who is devoid of any such complex layering as a character in this drama.
6
Nemesis.
Isis was Egyptian and retribution wasn't her purview.
Isis was Egyptian and retribution wasn't her purview.
3
The real answer is the movie Idiocracy. Good rflection of the voting public andthe president.
5
For more insight, look to Huxley himself! His essay Brave New World Revisited, written in 1958 (google it), tackles the same question. Not surprisingly, he concludes that his dystopian prediction was "better". The essay made a convincing case at the time, that is even more apt today, imo. For instance, this nugget:
“There are two kinds of propaganda -- rational propaganda ... that is consonant with the enlightened self-interest of those who make it and those to whom it is addressed, and non-rational propaganda that is not consonant with anybody's enlightened self-interest, but ... appeals to passion…If politicians and their constituents always acted to promote ... long-range self-interest, this world would be an earthly paradise. As it is, they often act against their own interests, merely to gratify their least creditable passions…Propaganda ... that is consonant with enlightened self-interest appeals to reason by means of logical arguments based upon the best available evidence ... Propaganda ... dictated by the impulses that are below self-interest offers false, garbled or incomplete evidence, avoids logical argument and seeks to influence its victims by the mere repetition of catchwords, by the furious denunciation of foreign or domestic scapegoats, and by cunningly associating the lowest passions with the highest ideals, so that... the most cynical kind of Realpolitik is treated as a matter of ... patriotic duty.”
Sound familiar?
“There are two kinds of propaganda -- rational propaganda ... that is consonant with the enlightened self-interest of those who make it and those to whom it is addressed, and non-rational propaganda that is not consonant with anybody's enlightened self-interest, but ... appeals to passion…If politicians and their constituents always acted to promote ... long-range self-interest, this world would be an earthly paradise. As it is, they often act against their own interests, merely to gratify their least creditable passions…Propaganda ... that is consonant with enlightened self-interest appeals to reason by means of logical arguments based upon the best available evidence ... Propaganda ... dictated by the impulses that are below self-interest offers false, garbled or incomplete evidence, avoids logical argument and seeks to influence its victims by the mere repetition of catchwords, by the furious denunciation of foreign or domestic scapegoats, and by cunningly associating the lowest passions with the highest ideals, so that... the most cynical kind of Realpolitik is treated as a matter of ... patriotic duty.”
Sound familiar?
14
You're actually READING your dystopias? How twentieth century!
This country long ago signed on to the future as depicted in the motion picture "Network" (now coming to the London stage). Global corporations are in actual control, the national media simply entertains a clueless society and, whether you're Howard Beale, Stephen Colbert or Donald Trump, the ratings are your eventual downfall.
This country long ago signed on to the future as depicted in the motion picture "Network" (now coming to the London stage). Global corporations are in actual control, the national media simply entertains a clueless society and, whether you're Howard Beale, Stephen Colbert or Donald Trump, the ratings are your eventual downfall.
8
"Within the next generation I believe that the world's leaders will discover that infant conditioning and narco-hypnosis are more efficient, as instruments of government, than clubs and prisons, and that the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience."
……October 21, 1949, Aldous Huxley in a letter to George Orwell.
……October 21, 1949, Aldous Huxley in a letter to George Orwell.
5
Soon, instead of referencing the dystopian canon such as Orwell's "1984" or Sinclair Lewis's "It Can't Happen Here," we are going to all be re-reading Fletcher Knebel's "Seven Days in May."
7
Love both books, and have always felt Huxley was the more prescient, 'tho not the writer Orwell was. What both books failed to predict is, however, the current zeitgeist which involves a flight from civilization, at least in fantasy if not in fact. We're in the seedy endtimes of an unsustainable hyper-individualism. Anyone know of a decent novel that projects this idea?
4
Really, Sinclair Lewis' "It Can't Happen Here" is far more appropriate than either of these two choices.
11
Doublethink finds a home in alternative facts and the method of its presentation
smacks of Orwell. A good listen to King Crimson's 'Epitaph'. sets the best example.
smacks of Orwell. A good listen to King Crimson's 'Epitaph'. sets the best example.
1
As I walk
a cracked
and broken path
Rest in peace Greg Lake.
a cracked
and broken path
Rest in peace Greg Lake.
The fate of all mankind I fear is in the hands of fools.
Alfred Bester's The Stars My Destination-- about an uneducated, unskilled, accomplish-less man motivated only by anger and the need revenge for perceived slights. . . in a dystopian world run by corporate powers, he masquerades as one of the most ostentatious nouveau riche . . . he uses rape to pressure a woman into helping him charm others . . . at one point surrounding himself with his own traveling circus. . . a great read from 1956 with many parallels to today.
8
Ah. The Stars My Destination. For about ten years one of my top ten favorite books. Named my dog Gully Foyle.
1
Dave Egger's recent 'The Circle' depicts a chillingly believable dystopia in which a single company controls all personal data, surveillance is ubiquitous, and no privacy is allowed.
12
Two interesting opinions; Mr. McGrath's for his insightful re-evaluation of the answer and Mr. Deb's for his equally insightful re-evaluation of the question.
5
ALL of these books everyone writes about are describing today. Read everyone of them. It is like looking in a mirror.
We are watching a coup take place right now. Trump will become a fascist dictator right before I eyes, and we all just sit and watch it happen. And we cannot stop it, it is too late.
You are watched and listened to all the time right now. Oh, the horror, the horror of it all. What will you do now.?
We are watching a coup take place right now. Trump will become a fascist dictator right before I eyes, and we all just sit and watch it happen. And we cannot stop it, it is too late.
You are watched and listened to all the time right now. Oh, the horror, the horror of it all. What will you do now.?
It's Animal Farm
4
I would urge readers to peruse the works of the Canadian author Margaret Atwood. Yes, her 1985 novel "The Handmaid's Tale," but even more so her more recent trilogy which begins with the unparalleled "Oryx and Crake."
I'm also surprised no one has yet mentioned Neal Stephenson's "Snow Crash" or "Diamond Age," though these two perhaps rely too heavily on technological tropes to be considered generally accessible.
I'm also surprised no one has yet mentioned Neal Stephenson's "Snow Crash" or "Diamond Age," though these two perhaps rely too heavily on technological tropes to be considered generally accessible.
14
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned 'The Iron Heel' by Jack London. It is an American anticipation of plutocracy, written before WW1 by an avowed socialist. Some of it has come true in the legal structure of the National Security state.
Some of the details in 1984 have also come true. The recent action against Vizio shows that 'telescreens' are already 2-way. Amazon's Alexa listens to everything you say: who knows what happens to most of it? I'd guess that it's not wasted material. 'Smart' appliances forward your data to their manufacturer, who doubtless sells it.
1984 was hampered because 'big data' then required people to analyse it, and there are limits to how much people can do. Now it can be automatic, and some movies have shown us what can be done.
'Brave new world' is an excellent book, but note its safety valve: Iceland. If you somehow resisted your conditioning you might be sent to Iceland. It's where originality of thought was encouraged- where the future was invented. This feature made it possible to imagine Brave New World as a society that could progress and change.
Some of the details in 1984 have also come true. The recent action against Vizio shows that 'telescreens' are already 2-way. Amazon's Alexa listens to everything you say: who knows what happens to most of it? I'd guess that it's not wasted material. 'Smart' appliances forward your data to their manufacturer, who doubtless sells it.
1984 was hampered because 'big data' then required people to analyse it, and there are limits to how much people can do. Now it can be automatic, and some movies have shown us what can be done.
'Brave new world' is an excellent book, but note its safety valve: Iceland. If you somehow resisted your conditioning you might be sent to Iceland. It's where originality of thought was encouraged- where the future was invented. This feature made it possible to imagine Brave New World as a society that could progress and change.
4
I find it interesting that neither author brought up The Handmaid's Tale, which to many women feels unsettlingly realistic right now as white male politicians sign laws to strip away our rights and refer to pregnant women as "hosts". We are losing so much ground, so quickly, that Atwood's terrifying vision seems neither dated nor implausible. When you are inviting a debate like this, perhaps it would be a good idea to include a woman?
54
Do your math, asdfj: Women make up over half the human population. Our futures are not non-sequiturs. The GOP is trying to limit access not just to abortion but also to birth control right now. How did you arrive on this planet? Are you going to reduce your own coming-into-existence to an act of identity politics? This is what "The Handmaid's Tale" is all about. How half the population of a large region of this country winds up shackled and oppressed in the name of reproductive control. One can try to mock that as so-called "identity politics," but such protestations will never sell as well as that book sold and still does sell. I bet the sales are going up now that birth control is endangered in our new Bible-thumper Congress and we have an accused Mr. Grabby Hands in the White House.
17
The NYT could save itself a lot of hectoring by conducting a job search for a permanent Token. This person - and in a population of more than 7 billion, there must be someone who fits the description, would ideally have one African-American grandparent; one Native American grandparent; one Hispanic grandparent; one Asian (any variety) grandparent. Blended families OK. The applicant should also be transgender, genderqueer, or whatever label is trendy this morning. Bonus points for being handicapped.
This professional token can then be all things to all people, presumably representing the POV of whichever presumably homogenous bloc is being slighted.
Seriously ... the Bookends column often includes women writers, some of colour. These two just happen to be male. And I wonder what would happen if the woman writer they invited were libertarian gadfly Lionel Shriver, whose novels are marked by biting satire barbecuing 'progressive' sacred cows? I'm guessing she wouldn't be the kind of woman you want to include.
This professional token can then be all things to all people, presumably representing the POV of whichever presumably homogenous bloc is being slighted.
Seriously ... the Bookends column often includes women writers, some of colour. These two just happen to be male. And I wonder what would happen if the woman writer they invited were libertarian gadfly Lionel Shriver, whose novels are marked by biting satire barbecuing 'progressive' sacred cows? I'm guessing she wouldn't be the kind of woman you want to include.
1
There are some very awakened and intelligent folks on this comment page, which gives me hope. Then there are folks who make their fear driven, CNN derived totalitarianism-phobic comments about a new president who hasn't even been in office 30 days.
If you think after 8 years of Obama and his self proclaimed and media supported "legacy" that he is anything less than what you purport Trump to be, then you need to have your head examined. I heard more talk about his wife's dress designers than his destructive policies. Sounds a lot like consumerism to me.
I think William in Texas and Jay Hardcastle in Nashville had the best comments by far.
If you think after 8 years of Obama and his self proclaimed and media supported "legacy" that he is anything less than what you purport Trump to be, then you need to have your head examined. I heard more talk about his wife's dress designers than his destructive policies. Sounds a lot like consumerism to me.
I think William in Texas and Jay Hardcastle in Nashville had the best comments by far.
1
Thanks for this interesting take on two novels that show the cultural work of literature. I really appreciate the book suggestions from Mr. Deb. I hope the Times will continue to offer book suggestions from authors. I regard this much more highly than the "What's on your nightstand?" feature. I still have my copy of the Book Review's "The Year in Reading." I have found so many compelling reads there with a special shout out to Ann Tyler. I wish she would offer her recommendations on a regular basis.
2
Jack London's 1906 book, "The Iron Heel" shows exactly how Trump's rise could occur in America. He also describes how to resist this fascism once it establishes itself.
6
The intro to this piece seemed indicate the two authors of the articles were going to take opposing stances on the two books in question; they didn't. Just sayin'. in any case - it's only aspects of each that ring true today. No-one is claiming the entire books do when they reference them in the context of our current situation - why would that even matter? The concepts of Newspeak and Doublespeak are particularly appropo to the Trump administration (and campaign) and that is unique and really alarming - to me, that is why referencing 1984 is more important at the moment. But it was interesting to read about the differences between the books, nonetheless.
4
The degradation of language in Orwell's Oceania and what we are enduring now are very different. Newspeak sought to reduce vocabulary to the point where it was impossible to express certain concepts or shades of meaning, perhaps even to conceive of them. Rather than 'evil', 'venal', 'wrongheaded', 'degraded', 'deplorable', 'rotten', 'stinky', or even just 'bad', Newspeak offers only various prefixes for 'good' - ungood, plusungood, doubleplusungood, which do not even admit of a distinction between the ungoodness of an off-key singer, a pogrom, and dog poop on your shoe. Query whether you can have 'freedom' if you don't even have a word for the concept.
By contrast, Trumpspeak involves the proliferation of words, but unmoored from meaning, e.g., 'alternative facts'? We still have the word 'lie', but now we have 'alternative facts'. Vague adjectives fly like confetti - wonderful, beautiful, amazing, sad, disgusting, etc. He has 'the best words', lots of them, pelting us with them nonstop via Twitter - but when you parse them, no actual meaning emerges.
By contrast, Trumpspeak involves the proliferation of words, but unmoored from meaning, e.g., 'alternative facts'? We still have the word 'lie', but now we have 'alternative facts'. Vague adjectives fly like confetti - wonderful, beautiful, amazing, sad, disgusting, etc. He has 'the best words', lots of them, pelting us with them nonstop via Twitter - but when you parse them, no actual meaning emerges.
7
I agree that "Brave New World" is most prescient of contemporary America. Aldous Huxley's essays in "Brave New World Revisited" (published in 1958) confirm this; these essays should be read along with BNW.
Neil Postman's 1985 book ("Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business") is a must-read that amazingly captures what has been happening during this past election season.
Populism in the US and around the world is a hot topic. I would strongly encourage reading Eric Hoffer's 1951 book "The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements."
Hoffer's, Huxley's, and Orwell's books are dated only if you focus on references to events of their day (dominated by world wars and Nazism), but their underlying themes about human nature and control and government are quite relevant today. Postman makes these themes contemporary by the role of technology (namely, television in 1985).
Regarding television, I would recommend reading George W.S. Trow ("Within the Context of No Context"). This is a densely written long essay on television and its effect on American culture, first published in 1980 in The New Yorker and and later published as a book.
The ascension of Donald Trump to President Trump is not surprising if you read Postman and Trow. The authoritarian methods of Trump and his administration can be understood by reading Orwell. Why this has happened in America can be understood by reading Huxley.
Neil Postman's 1985 book ("Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business") is a must-read that amazingly captures what has been happening during this past election season.
Populism in the US and around the world is a hot topic. I would strongly encourage reading Eric Hoffer's 1951 book "The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements."
Hoffer's, Huxley's, and Orwell's books are dated only if you focus on references to events of their day (dominated by world wars and Nazism), but their underlying themes about human nature and control and government are quite relevant today. Postman makes these themes contemporary by the role of technology (namely, television in 1985).
Regarding television, I would recommend reading George W.S. Trow ("Within the Context of No Context"). This is a densely written long essay on television and its effect on American culture, first published in 1980 in The New Yorker and and later published as a book.
The ascension of Donald Trump to President Trump is not surprising if you read Postman and Trow. The authoritarian methods of Trump and his administration can be understood by reading Orwell. Why this has happened in America can be understood by reading Huxley.
31
I remember "The Context of No Context" in the New Yorker, some of it made an impact on me, was hard to absorb. (This was also quite a while ago). Would probably be interesting, and perhaps, scary, to read it again. Was glad to see it referenced.
Great article! I recommend including Sinclair Lewis' "IT CAN'T HAPPEN HERE" to the list of dystopian novels, and it was written in 1935. However, the Matt Damon movie "Elysium" is my favorite recent dystopian future, as is the earlier "Blade Runner". The real driver of dystopia is population density and population density stress. A rich resource for the inherent behavioral problems that occur in ever more crowded populations is the published work of ecologist John B. Calhoun, which describes rat and mouse behaviors in crowding experiments in the 1950's and 1960's. He invented the terms "behavioral sink" and "the beautiful ones" and drew parallels to over-crowded human populations. Any would-be novelists out there looking for new material? Read John B. Calhoun's prescient work and translate it to our human future. The reader can't go wrong with anything by Philip K. Dick.
12
Thank you for reminding us of John B. Calhoun's work. I had heard of it when I was an undergraduate, but had only vague memories of the results.
I'd bet Trump would be really happy in the world from Kurt Vonnegut's 'Slapstick'. Every product would be emblazoned with 'TRUMP', like the RAMJAC corporation.
8
I'm with Brave New World as having the future pegged -- sedate people with pleasure and satisfy every desire, and you control the kingdom. Force simply creates a ticking time bomb.
Had the opportunity to pick up Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury which picks up on the ominous tones of today's global situation. It's not the powers that be that have usurped our right for knowledge and self determination -- we have gladly given it away, tranquilized by a never ending barrage of seductive media. We have already let go our our civil liberties long before they are taken from us. The book is eerily on target.
Had the opportunity to pick up Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury which picks up on the ominous tones of today's global situation. It's not the powers that be that have usurped our right for knowledge and self determination -- we have gladly given it away, tranquilized by a never ending barrage of seductive media. We have already let go our our civil liberties long before they are taken from us. The book is eerily on target.
8
Why do people on the left continually whitewash over the fact that books like 1984 are about Socialism, not Communism? Is it because they are still trying to get people to give Socialism another chance to destroy another economy? "IngSoc" was created from the words "England" and "Socialism". It''s right there in the name and spelled out clearly in the book:
"Ingsoc, which grew out of the earlier Socialist movement and inherited its
phraseology, has in fact carried out the main item in the Socialist
programme; with the result, foreseen and intended beforehand, that
economic inequality has been made permanent."
Not only that but, as an outside observer, Doublespeak and Groupthink is far better demonstrated by the modern day left than right. Special Privileges is Equality. Free Speech is Hate Speech. People with non-acceptable opinions are Race and Gender traitors. Violence to all who would disagree. Nazi labels for anyone right of Jane Fonda.
"Ingsoc, which grew out of the earlier Socialist movement and inherited its
phraseology, has in fact carried out the main item in the Socialist
programme; with the result, foreseen and intended beforehand, that
economic inequality has been made permanent."
Not only that but, as an outside observer, Doublespeak and Groupthink is far better demonstrated by the modern day left than right. Special Privileges is Equality. Free Speech is Hate Speech. People with non-acceptable opinions are Race and Gender traitors. Violence to all who would disagree. Nazi labels for anyone right of Jane Fonda.
6
Perhaps because Orwell himself was a committed socialist, one who would, I've no doubt, have been pleased by its implementation in Scandinavia. See http://www.biographyonline.net/socialism-george-orwell/.
2
Socialism ? Not hardly . Absolute Single Party Totalitarianism is more like it .Try reading the actual books versus the Breitbart reviews . And do realize that those of us genuine Conservatives , those of us in the Middle [ myself included] as well as those on the Left see the future portrayed in books such as " Brave New Wold " and " 1984 " as a type of living hell .. not nirvana .
13
No western leftist worth their salt advocates for authoritarian socialism or communism anymore. From abstruse radical intellectuals to college kids reading Marx, everyone is aware of the havok and destruction caused by authoritarian leftism during the 20th century. Most leftists that I'm aware of today are libertarian socialists which advocates for both the end of capitalism and a largely stateless society. Most of these people also acknowledge that this utopic vision would never happen and probably wouldnt work but the important thing is, most leftists in the west are huge enemies of authoritarianism.
what you're talking about sounds more like social democracy ie. the government using their power to address social problems (Bernie Sanders). Plenty of criticisms to be made about Bernie, but he's not a socialist or communist, not even close. And like I said, I don't think any radicals are unaware of the dangers of authoritarian rule. Very few radicals want to see Stalin happen again.
what you're talking about sounds more like social democracy ie. the government using their power to address social problems (Bernie Sanders). Plenty of criticisms to be made about Bernie, but he's not a socialist or communist, not even close. And like I said, I don't think any radicals are unaware of the dangers of authoritarian rule. Very few radicals want to see Stalin happen again.
7
I love this discussion. Of course, as a funny game; the world is far more complex than the books. But, living in Argentina these last 12 years of populism it seemed Orwell was the winner. And it was very terrifying. Or just check Venezuela's latest news. In this country there is even a one-way Big Brother in the form of "cadenas nacionales" via radio and TV, where every station is obligued to broadcast endless daily presidential speeches.
5
I am surprised you did not include Vonnegut's Player Piano in your discussion.
8
Soylent Green.
8
It's People!
1
Many forget that Sinclair Lewis wrote one too in 1935. Take a look it's called "It can't Happen Here." It is a political satire about a president who becomes a dictator to save the nation from welfare fraud, immigrants, crime and the liberal media.
Hey, I'm not making this up! Check it out.
Hey, I'm not making this up! Check it out.
5
I think it looks more like "Lord of the Flies" meets the "Tar Baby" from Uncle Remus.... with a little 1984 thrown in....
4
We are in a bit of a pickle when we are consumed with the debate of which dystopia we are drifting toward.
101
I've always believed that "Brave New World" was the one novel that was truly prophetic in its description of a population that is numbed by sex, pills and consumerism. His characters are obsessed by their body image and are openly scornful of literature and the arts. Any negative thoughts are deemed dangerous and are banned, just like in today's colleges and their"safe spaces".
"1984", on the other hand, feels dated and feels like a product of the Cold War. Orwell was more concerned about communist dictatorships and his book is a portrayal of the former USSR. If anything, "1984", in today's world, would probably be a description of North Korea.
In the end, I feel like "Brave New World" is a better novel, not only because the writing is superior but the social criticism is more insightful. "1984" may be more chilling, but it lacks the finesse and the irony of Huxley's novel. It's too heavy-handed in its description of a dystopic world.
"1984", on the other hand, feels dated and feels like a product of the Cold War. Orwell was more concerned about communist dictatorships and his book is a portrayal of the former USSR. If anything, "1984", in today's world, would probably be a description of North Korea.
In the end, I feel like "Brave New World" is a better novel, not only because the writing is superior but the social criticism is more insightful. "1984" may be more chilling, but it lacks the finesse and the irony of Huxley's novel. It's too heavy-handed in its description of a dystopic world.
16
My vote goes for the movie "Idiocracy" by Mike Judge and Etan Cohen
36
Also relevant: Wall-E, at least at the beginning.
1
The "centrifugal bumblepuppy" concept seems to have come true. Anything involving children has become unbelievably complicated and needs more and more resources and equipment and three pages of directions.
1
Why does literarture have to be right? What is "right" about a work of art? I would expect that Huxley and Orwell would be at least perplexed, if not outraged, at the suggestion that they were in some sort of competition, a test to see who was more "prescient". I remember during the year 1984 (CE) when numerous people judged whether Orwell had successfully predicted the future. Had they read the book, they might have understood that by starting when the clocks struck 13, the author was not dealing with a standard application of time or with predictions. He was reacting to what he experienced. Please don't apply these books as literal maps - read them as an exploration of imaginary territory.
33
This interesting piece was more valuable for mentioning authors and books I might not have looked at on my own. Dystopia, as described here, has been overtaking us for years. We tweet, text, e-mail abbreviations and emoticons, rather than the precise, nuanced thoughts we had; and we will soon lose the ability to have those nuanced thoughts because we will be limited by the expressions we have to convey those thoughts. I had learned that aboriginal peoples in the arctic had several names for the various types of snow, because they experienced snow that way. I know only of wet snow and sleet. How limited would their world be if they could only say "snow"?
15
I noticed that here in the Midwest. For the most part, here, they seem to have "rain" and "storms." Back home in Southern California, it rained so seldom that we needed to be more precise. There was "precipitation," "mist," "drizzle," "showers," "rain," "rainstorm," "thunderstorm," "downpour," and "we're going to need a bigger boat." (I'm kidding about the last one.) With precision, you knew exactly what kind of wet weather was coming your way and could prepare for it accordingly.
4
There's actually a very good novel where this is a key driver of the plot. It's called 'Smilla'z sense of snow.' IIRC there were not several, but more than 30 words for snow.
1
The business about several names for various types of snow is actually just an urban legend. And in fact you don't have to live in the Arctic to have various names for snow. We have slush, powder, sleet, freezing rain, or my personal favourite, 'that goddam crud'. (But then, I have to shovel it.)
Nearly 40 years ago, I read consecutively and rapidly 3 novels: Huxley, A Brave New World, Orwell, 1984, and Skinner, Walden 2. Huxley has always seemed to me to have his finger on the pulse of contemporary American life.
Consumerism, regardless of what is being consumed, stultifies thought and is in fact Huxley's soma pill writ large. Ultimately, a society built on consumerism, leaves no legacy as everything is consumed. Consumerism is too closely connected to consumption, a.k.a., tuberculosis, that destroys its host from within.
Consumerism, regardless of what is being consumed, stultifies thought and is in fact Huxley's soma pill writ large. Ultimately, a society built on consumerism, leaves no legacy as everything is consumed. Consumerism is too closely connected to consumption, a.k.a., tuberculosis, that destroys its host from within.
20
I would also suggest David Brin's "The Postman".
The plot synopsis in Wikipedia is pretty good: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Postman
The plot synopsis in Wikipedia is pretty good: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Postman
4
But where are the neo hippies????????