What image(s) is depicted on the
covers?
What year was your cover used for
the book? Do you think the year of
publication has any relationship to
the style or content of the image?
What do you think the novel might
be about, based on the cover
images?
What themes, or big ideas, do you
think will be explored in the novel?
First edition, 1932, by Leslie Holland
BNW as pulp novel: Bantam Giant, 1952,
Charles Binger
Penguin Modern Classics, 1971
Harper Perennial Classics, 1998
HarperCollins, 2004
Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2005
Harper Perennial, 2006, by Greg Kulick
Vintage Classics, 2007
Penguin Readers, 2008
Everbind, 2009, by Harold Shull
“My son Kevin posed for me for this cover.”
Brave
New
World
by Aldous Huxley
uto·pia noun \yu̇-ˈtō-pē-ə\
Definition of UTOPIA
1
: an imaginary and indefinitely remote place
2
often capitalized : a place of ideal perfection especially in laws, government,
and social conditions
3
: an impractical scheme for social improvement
Examples of UTOPIA
The town's founders wanted to create a Christian utopia.
It's a nice place to live, but it's no Utopia.
Origin of UTOPIAUtopia, imaginary and ideal country in Utopia (1516) by Sir
Thomas More, from Greek ou not, no + topos placeFirst Known Use: 1597
dys·to·pia noun \(ˌ)dis-ˈtō-pē-ə\
Definition of DYSTOPIA
an imaginary place where people lead dehumanized and often fearful lives
2
: anti-utopia 2
— dys·to·pi·an adjective
Origin of DYSTOPIA
New Latin, from dys- + -topia (as in utopia)
First Known Use: circa 1950
science fiction noun
definition of SCIENCE FICTION
: fiction dealing principally with the impact of actual or imagined science on society or
individuals or having a scientific factor as an essential orienting component
— sci·ence–fic·tion·al adjective
Examples of SCIENCE FICTION
Time travel exists only in the realm of science fiction.
First Known Use of SCIENCE FICTION
1851
Speculative fiction - Definition
Speculative fiction is an all-encompassing term which includes science fiction, alternative
history (fiction), horror and fantasy.
The term is often used among writers and publishers who wish to break out of what is
commonly called the "sci-fi ghetto". There is an unfortunate tendency, among both many
publishers and a large segment of the reading public, to expect only science fiction stories
from a person who has once written science fiction. Writers such as Harlan Ellison (an
outspoken advocate of the term) have deliberately rejected identification as a science fiction
writer for precisely such reasons; they don't reject the science fiction genre (in which
Ellison, for example, still participates) but they do reject pigeonholing their work.
The abbreviation "sf" (usually spelled in lowercase, but occasionally uppercase) is often
used to indicate either speculative fiction or what is traditionally known as "science fiction".
This term is coming into more frequent usage among younger fans who wish to break down
the literary barriers between the horror, fantasy, and science fiction genres.
The term is also sometimes used without any implication of breaking down barriers or
breaking out of the ghetto, simply as a convenient shorthand way to refer to multiple genres
at once.
See also: Internet Speculative Fiction DataBase
Source: http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Speculative_fiction
Some common themes of dystopian fiction:
•
•
•
•
•
authority (who has it? who should have it?)
technology (is it always good?)
advertising/propaganda
the individual vs. the group (privacy, conformity)
the individual vs. government or society (the conflict
between the right of the individual citizen to freedom
versus citizens' function in or responsibility to society)
• Sometimes an author will write dystopian fiction in order
to critique aspects of his/her current (contemporary)
government, political system, or society. (Why might an
author do this--what is to be gained by setting a work in
the future, rather than in the present or past?)
Brainstorm some examples of contemporary
dystopian or science fiction movies and/or
television shows.
What are some other examples of contemporary
dystopian, science, or speculative fiction?
"Fresh Hell: What's behind the boom in dystopian
fiction for young readers?" by Laura Miller for The
New Yorker
"And, of course, most American schoolchildren are at some point also assigned to
read one of the twentieth century’s dystopian classics for adults, such as Brave New
World or 1984...Sambell argues that 'the narrative closure of the protagonist’s final defeat
and failure is absolutely crucial to the admonitory impulse of the classic adult dystopia'...
Sambell’s observation implies that dystopian stories for adults and children have essentially
the same purpose—to warn us about the dangers of some current trend. That’s
certainly true of books like 1984 and Brave New World; they detail the consequences of
political authoritarianism and feckless hedonism. This is what will happen if we don’t
turn back now, they scold, and scolding makes sense when your readers have a shot
at getting their hands on the wheel."
"If, on the other hand, you consider [current YA dystopian literature an] allegory of the
adolescent social experience, they become perfectly intelligible. Adults dump teen-agers
nto the viper pit of high school, spouting a lot of sentimental drivel about what a wonderful
stage of life it's supposed to be. The rules are arbitrary, unfathomable, and subject to
sudden change. A brutal social hierarchy prevails, with the rich, the good-looking, and the
athletic lording their advantages over everyone else. To survive you have to be totally
fake. Adults don't seem to understand how high the stakes are; your whole life could be
over, and they act like it's just some 'phase'! Everyone's always watching you, scrutinizing
your clothes, or your friends and obsessing over whether you're having sex or taking drugs
or getting good grades, but no one cares who you really are or how you really feel about
anything."
Contemporary young adult dystopian fiction...
"Children, however, don’t run the world, and teen-agers, especially, feel the sting of this...
[YA dystopian fiction] operates like a fable or a myth, a story in which outlandish and
extravagant figures and events serve as conduits for universal experiences... It’s not
about persuading the reader to stop something terrible from happening—it’s about
what’s happening, right this minute, in the stormy psyche of the adolescent reader.
'The success of Uglies,' Westerfeld once wrote in his blog, 'is partly thanks to high school
being a dystopia.'"
"The typical arc of the dystopian narrative mirrors the course of adolescent
disaffection."
"Then somebody new, a misfit, turns up, or stumbles on an incongruity. A crack opens in
the facade. If the society is a false utopia, the hero discovers the lie at its very
foundation...If society is frankly miserable or oppressive, the hero will learn that, contrary
to what he's been told, there may be an alternative out there, somewhere."
"The part about the world being broken or intolerable, about the need to sweep away the
past to make room for the new? That part never gets old."
Read
more: http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2010/06/14/100614crat_atlarge_miller
#ixzz15yHCsETP
Your Homework
Please answer the following questions:
What do you imagine the future will be like? (Think
about technological advancements, way of life, etc.)
What are the current problems in society/ the
world? How do you see these problems evolving or
developing in the future?