In 1949, George Orwell acquired a curious letter from his former highschool French instructor.
Orwell had simply printed his groundbreaking ebook Nineteen Eighty-Four, which acquired glowing critiques from nearly each nook of the English-speaking world. His French instructor, because it occurs, was none aside from Aldous Huxley who taught at Eton for a spell earlier than writing Brave New World (1931), the opposite nice twentieth century dystopian novel.
Huxley begins off the letter praising the ebook, describing it as “profoundly essential.” He continues, “The philosophy of the ruling minority in Nineteen Eighty-Four is a sadism which has been carried to its logical conclusion by going past intercourse and denying it.”
Then Huxley switches gears and criticizes the ebook, writing, “Whether or not in precise truth the coverage of the boot-on-the-face can go on indefinitely appears uncertain. My very own perception is that the ruling oligarchy will discover much less arduous and wasteful methods of governing and of satisfying its lust for energy, and these methods will resemble these which I described in Brave New World.” (Hearken to him read a dramatized version of the book here.)
Principally whereas praising Nineteen Eighty-Four, Huxley argues that his model of the longer term was extra prone to come to move.
In Huxley’s seemingly dystopic World State, the elite amuse the lots into submission with a mind-numbing drug known as Soma and an limitless buffet of informal intercourse. Orwell’s Oceania, then again, retains the lots in verify with concern because of an limitless conflict and a hyper-competent surveillance state. At first blush, they could look like they’re diametrically opposed however, actually, an Orwellian world and a Huxleyan one are merely two completely different modes of oppression.
Clearly we’re nowhere close to both dystopic imaginative and prescient however the energy of each books is that they faucet into our fears of the state. Whereas Huxley may make you look askance at The Bachelor or Fb, Orwell makes you recoil in horror on the authorities throwing round phrases like “enhanced interrogation” and “surgical drone strikes.”
You’ll be able to learn Huxley’s full letter beneath.
Wrightwood. Cal.
21 October, 1949
Pricey Mr. Orwell,
It was very sort of you to inform your publishers to ship me a duplicate of your ebook. It arrived as I used to be within the midst of a chunk of labor that required a lot studying and consulting of references; and since poor sight makes it vital for me to ration my studying, I needed to wait a very long time earlier than having the ability to embark on Nineteen Eighty-4.
Agreeing with all that the critics have written of it, I needn’t inform you, but as soon as extra, how wonderful and the way profoundly essential the ebook is. Could I converse as an alternative of the factor with which the ebook offers — the final word revolution? The primary hints of a philosophy of the final word revolution — the revolution which lies past politics and economics, and which goals at whole subversion of the person’s psychology and physiology — are to be discovered within the Marquis de Sade, who regarded himself because the continuator, the consummator, of Robespierre and Babeuf. The philosophy of the ruling minority in Nineteen Eighty-4 is a sadism which has been carried to its logical conclusion by going past intercourse and denying it. Whether or not in precise truth the coverage of the boot-on-the-face can go on indefinitely appears uncertain. My very own perception is that the ruling oligarchy will discover much less arduous and wasteful methods of governing and of satisfying its lust for energy, and these methods will resemble these which I described in Courageous New World. I’ve had event not too long ago to look into the historical past of animal magnetism and hypnotism, and have been significantly struck by the best way by which, for 100 and fifty years, the world has refused to take critical cognizance of the discoveries of Mesmer, Braid, Esdaile, and the remainder.
Partly due to the prevailing materialism and partly due to prevailing respectability, nineteenth-century philosophers and males of science weren’t prepared to research the odder details of psychology for sensible males, corresponding to politicians, troopers and policemen, to use within the area of presidency. Because of the voluntary ignorance of our fathers, the appearance of the final word revolution was delayed for 5 or 6 generations. One other fortunate accident was Freud’s lack of ability to hypnotize efficiently and his consequent disparagement of hypnotism. This delayed the final software of hypnotism to psychiatry for at the very least forty years. However now psycho-analysis is being mixed with hypnosis; and hypnosis has been made straightforward and indefinitely extensible by way of using barbiturates, which induce a hypnoid and suggestible state in even probably the most recalcitrant topics.
Inside the subsequent era I imagine that the world’s rulers will uncover that toddler conditioning and narco-hypnosis are extra environment friendly, as devices of presidency, than golf equipment and prisons, and that the lust for energy could be simply as fully glad by suggesting individuals into loving their servitude as by flogging and kicking them into obedience. In different phrases, I really feel that the nightmare of Nineteen Eighty-4 is destined to modulate into the nightmare of a world having extra resemblance to that which I imagined in Courageous New World. The change might be caused because of a felt want for elevated effectivity. In the meantime, after all, there could also be a big scale organic and atomic conflict — by which case we will have nightmares of different and scarcely possible sorts.
Thanks as soon as once more for the ebook.
Yours sincerely,
Aldous Huxley
Observe: An earlier model of this submit appeared on our website in March, 2015.
Associated Content material:
A Complete Reading of George Orwell’s 1984: Aired on Pacifica Radio, 1975
George Orwell Explains in a Revealing 1944 Letter Why He’d Write 1984
Hear Aldous Huxley Narrate His Dystopian Masterpiece, Brave New World
Aldous Huxley’s Most Beautiful, LSD-Assisted Death: A Letter from His Widow
Jonathan Crow is a Los Angeles-based author and filmmaker whose work has appeared in Yahoo!, The Hollywood Reporter, and different publications. You’ll be able to observe him at @jonccrow. And take a look at his weblog Veeptopus, that includes a lot of footage of badgers and much more footage of vice presidents with octopuses on their heads. The Veeptopus retailer is here.
