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Gowher Ahmad Naik, Lovely Professional University Unit 17: Aldous Huxley—Brave New World

Unit 17: Aldous Huxley—Brave New World Notes

CONTENTS
Objectives
Introduction
17.1 Aldous Huxley-Brave New World: Introduction to the Author and to the Text

17.1.1 Introduction to the Author
17.1.2 Introduction to the Brave New World
17.2 Summary
17.3 Keywords
17.4 Review Questions
17.5 Further Readings

Objectives

After studying this unit, you will be able to:
• Explain introduction to the author of Brave new world
• Explain about the book, Brave new world.

Introduction

Brave New World is Aldous Huxley’s fifth novel, written in 1931 and published in 1932. Set
in London of AD 2540 (632 A.F. in the book), the novel anticipates developments in reproductive
technology and sleep-learning that combine to change society. The future society is an embodiment
of the ideals that form the basis of futurology. Huxley answered this book with a reassessment
in an essay, Brave New World Revisited (1958), summarised below, and with his final work,
a novel titled Island (1962). In 1999, the Modern Library ranked Brave New World fifth on its
list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.
17.1 Aldous Huxley-Brave New World: Introduction to the Author

and to the Text

17.1.1 Introduction to the Author

Aldous Leonard Huxley was born on July 26, 1894 in Surrey, England, as the third son of Dr.
Leonard Huxley and Julia Arnold. Huxley was born into a long line of scientists and intellectuals.
His grandfather Thomas Henry Huxley had the nickname “Darwin’s Bulldog” for his fierce
defense of evolutionary science and for his passion for teaching Victorian scientific advancements
to Britain’s working classes. Aldous Huxley was also related to the poet Matthew Arnold on
his mother’s side of the family. These two disciplines, literature and science, converged at the
end of the Victorian era and characterize Huxley’s own career and ambitions as an author,
journalist, and humanist.
Educated at Eton, Aldous Huxley was forced to leave the school at the age of seventeen due
to an affliction of the eyes. He was partially blind for two or three years and therefore was

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