A Brave New World: Context

Huxley's Childhood and Education

Born 26th July 1994, in Surrey, England.
Came from a family of important literary and scientific figures.
Both of his parents were highly educated teachers.
His grandfather, Thomas Henry Huxley, was a scientist known for being ''Darwin's Bulldog'' after championing Darwin's revolutionary ideas about evolution.
His mother, Julia Arnold, was related to the important 19th century poet, Matthew Arnold.
His family were writers, scientist and teachers, meaning that Huxley recieved an excellent education.
At first he was educated from home, but was later sent to Eton, where he was a keen student, and learned a variety of different subjects.
Huxley was a respected intellectual during his lifetime, whoi showed proficiency in both literature and science.

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Huxley's scientific knowledge had somewhat shaky foundations, as he often put faith in ideas with little evidence to back them up.
However, his thirst for scientific knowledge seeped into his writing, and his writing took on a unique style because of it.
Huxley contracted an eye disease in his teenage years that left him nearly blind.
When he was young, he dreamed of becoming a doctor, but he was prevented from doing so by the degeneration of his eyesight.
He was greatly restricted in the activities he could pursue, and heavily relied on his wife, Maria, to take care of him.
Blindness and vision are key motifs in much of Huxley's work.

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Huxley graduated from Oxford in 1916, and began to build a name for himself as a writer.
He wrote satirical pieces about the British upper-classes, which were skillfully written but were criticised for their lack of depth.
Despite this, Huxley's early work herlped to build his name and gave him a suitable audience.
Huxley continued to be a prolific writer, and worked mainly as an essayist and journalist.
Huxley also published four volumes of poetry before beginning work on his novels.
Starting in 1921, Huxley began writing a series of novels - Crome Yellow (1921), Antic Hay (1923, Those Barren Leaves (1925), and Point Counter Point (1928).

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Huxley abandoned his early satires whilst writing his first novels.
He chose to focus opn subjects with greater philosophical and ethical significance.
Conflict is a key theme in many of his works - particularly a conflict of interests between an individual and society.
Many of his characters embark on a journey of self-realisation and social responsibility as a result.
These themes are most notable in 'A Brave New World' and reflect similar themes in Orwells' 1984.
In 'A Brave New World', individuality and free-will are sacrificed in favour of social stability.
Many people consider 'A Brave New World' to be largely prophetic. as these events, or at least the principles behind them were quickly becoming reality.
Much of Huxley's work reflect the anxieties which dominated the lives of people in the 20th century.
'A Brave New World' allowed Huxley to combine his experience with writing satire with his scientific knowledge.

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Hitler came to power just 1 year after 'A Brave New World' was published in 1932, with WW2 breaking out just 5 years later.
The creation of the atomic bomb 13 years later became an indication for the Cold War aned buildup of the 'military industrial complex' that would follow.
The creation of new technology (much like Orwell), also caused Huxley to question its role in society, and put forward the idea that it reduced individuality.
After publishing 'A Brave New World', Huxley lived in England, but frequently made visits to Italy.
His visits to Italy caused him to be alarmed by the growing military buildup withing Europe.
In 1937, Huxley moved to California to remove himself from the impending threat of war within Europe.
Although he was already a famous novelist, Huxley tried to expand his talents into screenwriting, but with little success.

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In the late 1940's, Huxley experimented with hallucinogenicdrugs such as LSD and mescaline.
He also had a growing interest in the occult (hypnotism, seances etc.), which he believed bridged the gap between science and mysticism.
Huxley's experimentation with drugs led him to write several books which had a noteable influence on 60's culture.
'The Doors of Perception', features his experiences with mescaline, and influenced Jim Morrison and his friends to for the band, 'The Doors'.
In his last major work, 'Island', published in 1962, Huxley writes about a doomed Utopia which deliberately contrasts his earlier dystopias.
In 'Island', characters use a hallucinogenic drug called 'mashka', which reflects the drug promoted by the totalitarian state in 'A Brave New World'.
'A Brave New World' is a utopian novel, and far from depicting the 'perfect society',. it actually satirises the existing world Huxley lived in.
Huxley died on 22nd November 1963 in Los Angeles

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