Brave New World by Aldous Huxley - Paperback, 288 pages
For those of you still hankering for a bit of classic sci-fi, long-term UK arts scene fixture, author, and general all-round smart guy Melvyn Bragg currently presents a show on BBC radio 4 called “In Our Time” which examines what basically amounts to the history of ideas.
Each week, Melvyn will grill 2 or 3 seasoned academic experts on a given subject in his customary abrasive manner and impatience.
In this particular episode, Melvyn and his high-brow boffins discuss Aldous Huxley’s seminal work of dystopian science fiction “Brave New World” which was first published in 1932.
Brave New World famously explores ideas of cultural conditioning, control and manipulation, the sacrifice of personal freedoms for the good of the many and the looming specter of eugenics.
From wikipedia:
“Brave New World was inspired by the H. G. Wells’ utopian novel Men Like Gods. Wells’ optimistic vision of the future gave Huxley the idea to begin writing a parody of the novel, which became Brave New World. Contrary to the most popular optimist utopian novels of the time, Huxley sought to provide a frightening vision of the future. Huxley referred to Brave New World as a “negative utopia”, somewhat influenced by Wells’ own The Sleeper Awakes and the works of D. H. Lawrence. Yevgeny Zamyatin’s novel We, completed ten years before in 1921, has been suggested as an influence, but Huxley stated that he had not known of the book at the time.”
Despite the overwhelmingly popular view that the book presents a dark and horrific future world, the In Our Time team discuss whether the world Huxley painted might actually be all that bad after-all.
You can listen to the full program here (42 mins):
Or subscribe to the always worth a listen In Our Time podcast via iTunes 
