Random Ramblings

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Book Review : Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

The book, Brave New World ( BNW) was first published in 1932. It is a dystopian novel often compared with George Orwell’s 1984. It is always fascinating to guess where we would be 100 or 200 years from now. How often have we heard the clichés “what’s the world coming to ?” or “where are we heading for ?”. A Hindu will often say , we are well into the Kaliyug. Dystopian novels try to visualize this Kaliyug.

George Orwell’s Animal farm narrated the story from the October Revolution in Russia till Stalin’s brutal dictatorship. The way communism was taking shape, George Orwell visualized a world order in which three super states governed the world. There was single party rule under the watchful eye of the Big Brother.

Brave New World was written between the world wars when World War – I was still referred to as the Great War. The communist challenge or the Eastern Bloc was still far from a political reality. The free world was expected to march on powered by Science, Industrial Revolution and Capitalist Economy. The old order was changing; Mustafa Kemal Atatürk had successfully abolished the caliphate and sultanate establishing the modern, secular Republic of Turkey . The character Mustafa Mond , the World Controller in the novel, probably takes inspiration from the Turkish statesman.

It is extremely difficult to appreciate a book written almost a century ago unless one can understand the political,social and economic situation of that period.

Somehow this is one book, I have never come across till I read Homo Deus of Yuval harari wherein you see frequent reference to the BNW. Obviously Yuval Harari was quite inspired by the idea of this Dystopian society. One advantage of reading a good book is that it leads you to many other good books.

The plot is set in Gregorian year 2540 , when children are produced in assembly line , nobody is ever unhappy, the humankind has found solutions to all problems like famine and pestilence , through science and technology. Early indoctrination ensures that all citizens conform to the officially approved ideas. Classes are created deliberately for distribution of labour and early indoctrination ensures that people are happy with the class they are slotted into and there are absolutely no class conflicts.

The motto of the State is “Community, Identity, Stability” . Every effort is made to ensure that there are no non conformist ideas. Art and literature are discouraged. Citizens are encouraged to consume like mad, to keep themselves occupied with trivial games and to take liberal doses of soma to keep depression away. Soma is a anti-depressant drug that has no side effects and the name obviously is inspired by Hindu Mythology. The idea of class based division of labour is also probably inspired by Hindu civilization. After all , be it Plato’s Republic or the Communist State there are classes / castes and the entire idea of an organized religion ; yes communism is also a religion, is to sustain the noble lie as spelt out in The Republic.

The society makes great use of hypnopaedia for conditioning the citizens in their childhood. It is funny how we use the words training, conditioning, creating awareness or brainwashing. If a particular trait is desirable in a citizen we call it training or creating awareness and when your enemy does the same to his subjects it would be called brainwashing. Be it communism or democracy , it is generally agreed in closed door meetings that letting the citizens think on their own is detrimental to stability and welfare of the State.

The subjects of the Ford State ( the Brave New World ) learn a few things in their sleep through hypnopaedia. These are axioms like “ Civilization is sterilization”, “Ending is better than mending.”,“I love new clothes, I love new clothes, I love …”,“The more stitches the less riches; the more stitches the less …”,“I do love flying. I do love flying.” They called it conditioning not brainwashing.

So, we have a painless society that has solved all problems through Science and technology. Everyone is for everyone. There are no families, and hence no family problems. All citizens are categorized in grades from Alphas (the brahmins) to Epsilon ( the shudras) . Then they have the soma to remain perpetually happy.

Sometimes I feel, the present generation , or millennial as they are called , are slowly but surely moving towards this state. I am not trying to be judgemental but just trying to follow the new value system. They just want to be cool and to chill; keep worries away. They would avoid or delay having children so there are no emotional ties. Then you have surrogate mothers if required. Recently I came across a tweet (don’t know if it is one of the parody handles , but it looked real , reproduced below.

It is not just the millennials, but the elites in general ,in every region , steer away from religion, traditional family values or the traditional ideas of rights and duties as different for different individuals of the society. The generally accepted ideas are that no one owes anything to the family , to the community or to the nation; work hard and party harder, and just be cool about everything!

If the pill gave the women freedom from unwanted pregnancies , the test tube will finally free them from pregnancies altogether; No father, no mother , and no families. That would be a monstrous society indeed ! But then you have soma to ease your minds. 

Such books make better and better read as decades go by!  🥂

Palace of illusions falls in the genre of “No man’s land” . Historical fiction ? Mythology ?, History ? Or just fiction?  Amazon groups most of  such literature under main head Science Fiction , Horror and Fantasy and subhead Fantasy . Does it mean fiction is not fantasy ?

In a way, what is fiction but creative, imaginative narration of real life incidents with added twists and turns to make it dramatic and spell binding and fantasy gives unbridled flow to narration.

I go by this definition of Fantasy . Fantasy is a sub-genre of fiction. It refers to a branch of fiction which usually takes place in a world displaced from ours in either place or time. It has elements of the supernatural, including elements of magic, talking bears and dragons and so on.

So should we then call it historical fantasy ?

The Palace of Illusions is the story of Mahabharatam , in a way it would appeal even to a young reader. Indian mythology is very amenable to creative story telling. To quote the author , “a story gains power with retelling.” So we do have a very powerful story here.

I have read many versions at least once and one version by Rajagoplachari, “Vyasar Virundhu” in Tamil countless times. Mahabharatham is like a Matryoshka doll, with stories within stories going on and on. Virtually there is an explanation for anything happening anywhere as a fall out of something that happened in a different time and space. That is the theory of karma in all its glory.

As for readability, the most boring version is, predictably , the original one; no not in Sanskrit but the English translation by Kisari Mohan Ganguli. Almost every sentence is so convoluted with lengthy adjectives and honorifics for each character even in a routine conversation. Some examples :-

“Saying this the mild-speeched Krishna hid her face with her soft hands like the buds of lotus, and began to weep. And the tears of Panchali begot of grief washed her deep, plump and graceful breasts crowned with auspicious marks.”

“When Yudhishthira said this, his beloved queen. the high-minded Krishna of sweet smiles, answered him.”

(Krishnaa is another name of Draupadi)

So, we do need the story to be told and re-told in any number of styles, in prose, poetry and drama. The Palace of Illusions starts with the birth or the appearance of Draupadi at King Drupad’s yagya. (sacrifice) . What makes this narration special is that it is told as seen though the eyes of the main female character , Draupadi or Paanchaali.

Right from the start there is the focus on her being born with a destiny to fulfill. In her growing up years (some say that Draupadi was already  an adult when she came out of the sacrificial fire) there is elation and  there is anxiety and her chance encounter with the great sage Vyasa , rather than putting her at ease, only causes  more anxiety .

Despite the prophesies ,as events unfold , she finds herself in no position to change the course of her unusual life. She is probably the only one  among gods, gandharva , yakshas and the mortals , who is married  to five men. She knows that her destiny would drive her to be the cause of the greatest war on earth  and the end of an eon.

No single character can be aware of everything happening over a large canvas of time and space. So our protagonist gets a boon of divya- drishti (divine power to see everything) from the sage Vyasa and the Queen of Dreams dreams up the parts required to cover the gaps in the story. In a way Draupadi becomes the fourth know-all in the story after, Krishna, Vyasa and Bhishma.

The title says it all. Palace of illusions at Indraprastha is central to Paanchaali’s reign as the Queen of Pandava Kingdom. Though this period spans 36 years , most versions give just a broad-brush treatment to this phase barring the Rajasuya Yagya which is at the fag end of the period.

I am going on and on about Mahabharatam in general rather than about this book; but I can’t help it. While reading, there is always a stream of thoughts in the backdrop from various versions, as one looks for similarities and variances. What stands out in the Palace of Illusions is the total familiarity bordering on utter irreverence shown to the great heroes and even gods. This makes the characters look more human and the book more readable.

Just a few examples:-

About Yudhistra

“Was he a saint, or merely lacking in common sense? In either case, it was most annoying.”

About Arjuna

“For once, my much-wedded husband (aided by a dig from my elbow in his ribs) made the right decision: he asked that the princess become, instead, his son Abhimanyu’s wife.”

Krishna, an Avtar of Vishnu is singled out for special treatment . There is levity and facetiousness where-ever Krishna comes on the scene.

That’s how the famous Geethopadesh at Kurukshetra is described !

“When I watched Krishna advise Arjun, consoling him, teaching him how to be successful not only on this battlefield but beyond it, I almost didn’t recognize the amusing, carefree man I’d known since my girlhood. Where had he learned so many philosophies? When had he made their wisdom his own?”

What is a story without a love triangle ? May be in this case it could be a love – hexagon or is it love-polygon , what with Paanchaali talking about the wives of her husbands ! Karna angle is the most unexpected one in the polygon.

Over all, It’s a great read; awesome story telling and absolutely fascinating style. Just wondering ,how would the story have gone, if other strong female characters like Kunti , Gaandhari or even Rukmini had also insisted on voicing  their viewpoints .

PS

The book is best enjoyed if you have a good knowledge of Indian Mythology in general. Unlike Ramayanam, Mahabharatham provides scope for threadbare analysis of all the characters. No one including Krishna is beyond reproach. For further reading / viewing I would suggest Gurcharan Das’s “Difficulty of being good “ and the serial “Dharmakshetra” on Epic Channel. Here’s one episode.

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