"Il mondo nuovo" dello scrittore Aldous Huxley è ambientato in un immaginario stato totalitario del futuro, nel quale ogni aspetto della vita viene pianificato con l'unico fine di aumentare la produttività e tutto è sacrificabile al progresso.
I cittadini di questa società non sono oppressi da fame, guerra, malattie e possono accedere liberamente a ogni piacere materiale. Grazie a un forte e perenne condizionamento sono portati ad accettare e approvare la propria posizione sociale e il proprio lavoro.
In cambio di questo benessere fisico e psicologico, però, devono rinunciare a ogni emozione, a ogni sentimento, a ogni manifestazione della propria individualità: nel "mondo nuovo" i bambini vengono creati e clonati in appositi centri di fecondazione (dove viene decisa la loro categoria sociale, le loro caratteristiche fisiche, il loro lavoro...); gli individui sono tutti sterilizzati ed i rapporti sessuali avvengono fin dalla giovinezza, senza restrizioni, perché vige la libertà completa. Vengono usate martellanti frasi di propaganda, inculcate ad ogni essere umano durante il sonno sin dalla fase fetale. Non esiste dolore perché viene inibito tramite l'uso del soma (una droga emozionale), non esiste paura della morte o invecchiamento (a 60 anni circa si va in appositi centri dove si muore senza sofferenza).
Tutto è pulito, sterilizzato e programmato. Non si può uscire dagli schemi preimposti e non c'è libero arbitrio, la vita di tutti è già decisa prima ancora della nascita e l'individuo stesso non sente nessun bisogno di cambiare la propria condizione o di agire diversamente.
Ma cosa succede se, per errore, c'è qualcuno capace di pensare con la propria testa, che non accetta il soma o le regole della società?

Despite the age of author's observations, they are as relevant today as they were then. There are things in the book that are of historical interest and currently not a threat or clearly outdated but the warnings of propaganda and manipulation are a greater threat than ever

“The nature of psychological compulsion is such that those who act under constraint remain under the impression that they are acting on their own initiative. The victim of mind-manipulation does not know that he is a victim. To him the walls of his prison are invisible, and he believes himself to be free. That he is not free is apparent only to other people. His servitude is strictly objective.”


While its illustrious counterpart, Orwell’s 1984, has entered our cultural lexicon in more significant ways – who doesn't know about Doublethink, Newspeak, Memory Hole, or The Ministry of Truth? - Huxley’s concocted fable of a scientifically authored future for mankind remains the most clinically, rationally approached - and thus more prescient - one. In a far off future, this vision, penned down in 1931, could very well prove to be correct, making the noble attempt of his former student Orwell seem almost crude and laughable in comparison.

Indeed, in 2017 a Brave New World scenario is more near than we’d like to imagine. All the technical tools - even if still primitive - are available, all that need be added are the right circumstances and a powerful, unopposed group strong-willed enough to bring it into reality.

Yet for all its prophetic potency, at the same time this is exactly where the issue lies with Brave New World: as a work of art, it doesn’t cleave to you. It’s a novel almost solely composed of ideas. And so, judged purely as a novel, it shows itself to be rather threadbare in its construction, offering up little more than a dry summation of what are admittedly intriguing concepts, but ultimately showing an acute deficiency in its ability to evoke any deep emotion.

This, primarily, is the fault of its underdeveloped, two-dimensional characters, and a lacklustre, almost lazy plot that doesn’t necessarily invite further contemplation by the reader on the intricacies of what by all rights should be a richly textured world (or on its history for that matter). It's mind-bogglingly restricted, superficial, and (how ironic) sterile.

One wouldn't be wrong in asserting this might have been Huxley’s exact intention, so as to make the future all the more devoid of humanity and thus frightening to us, but that shouldn't serve as an excuse for tedium. All good fiction does need to have these emotional anchors in place. Here, sadly, it falls short in that regard. A historically significant work to be sure, but aesthetically lacking.

Brave New World Revisited (1958) however, Huxley’s later commentary on the viability of the future he envisioned, I found to be much more preferable. Dispensing with characterization or concern for plot, Huxley can engage at heart’s content in some intellectual freestyling: ruminating, extrapolating, pursuing various strands of thought, etc.. His comparision of the different techniques of mind manipulation (both of individuals and of crowds) employed by the authoritarian regimes of Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia were particularly insightful. I could have tolerated it being more lengthy than it is, actually.

In essence, it is both a sobering account of how malleable, and indeed easily influenced, human beings in the main really are when put in the “right” conditions, and a manual on how to counteract the ambitions of those in possession of the vulgar will to power. A vigilant defense of freedom in all its forms, education and a deep awareness of our inherent corruptability and faults, Huxley argues, are still our best bulwarks against further encroachment by budding tyrants.

In this case prophesy, for all intents and purposes, thankfully remains a mug’s game.

A fascinating book, which certainly reflects the climate of the period in which it was written, but it also shows a remarkable prescience, especially in these days. A little reminiscent of Orwell's 1984, but while there methods to keep the masses in line were intimidation and force, here it goes to mental conditioning, programming and behavioral genetics. In this society is eliminated the concept of 'single' in favor of a 'community', making the citizen gentle and happy in his condition and eliminating any trace of discontent and revolt. At times harrowing, never boring and definitely worth reading.