Aldous Huxley

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Aldous Huxley

• Brave New World Lecture

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To get you thinking . . .

• What is the most meaningful book you have ever
  read and why?
• Are we more or less literate as a society than we
  were in the past?
• Do you think society is smarter than it was in
  the past? Why or why not?
• Are we becoming too dependent on technology?

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To get you thinking . . .

• What are the characteristics of a perfect world?
  
• What would we have more of?
• What would we have less of?

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To get you thinking . . .

• Is it possible to achieve this in our time? Why
  or why not?

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Author Information

• Born July 26, 1894 in Surrey, England
• Literary and Scientific Tradition
• Father Thomas Henry Huxley
• Famous biologist
• Darwins Bulldog
• Mother Julia Arnold
• Related to Matthew Arnold, famous 19th century
  poet and essayist

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Author Information

• Result of Parents
• The production of a writer who is uniquely
  informed about science
• Science-Fiction Writer?
• Eye Disorder
• Prevented him from becoming a medical doctor
• Blindness and Vision become significant literary
  motifs (recurring idea in a literary work)

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Author Information

• Brave New World published in 1932
• Satire
• Fascination with Science
• Anti-Utopian Society (Dystopia)
• Similar to Orwells text 1984
• Have you ever heard of Big Brother?

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Author Information

• 1940s Turning Point
• Experimentation with hallucinogenic drugs LSD and
  mescaline
• Interest in occult phonomena hypnotism,
  seances, and other activities on the border of
  science and mysticism
• Publishes Doors of Perception
• Have you ever heard of Jim Morrison?

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Brave New World

• Novel of Dystopia
• Not the perfect world, but the exact opposite

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Essential Questions

• Chapter 1 Find out the following
• What is the setting?
• What is the Bokanovsky Process?
• What is Podsnaps Technique?
• What is Social Predestination?
• What are the various social castes? List them.
• Write down something interesting or confusing
  from this chapter.