1984 or Brave New World?

[D-Dogg]

Inspired by comments in the What Have You Been Reading Lately thread.

Which book do you prefer? Poll coming.

 

[Linderbee]

I knew it wouldn't take long for this poll to arrive. I never finished 1984, & haven't read Brave New World...guess it's time for 'bee to attempt reading again. Y'all have me intrigued.

 

[Griffin]

Only read 1984. And that was almost 10 years ago.

 

[devilalum]

I think about Brave New World all the time.

Soma Holiday (Beer)
Alphas, Betas, Deltas...............class system (created by our amazing educational system)

What makes both of these books so classic is that they depict elements of the real world in a thought provoking way.

1984, big brother (Patriot Act)

 

[devilalum]

I read these books in high school and they profoundly impacted my way of thinking I reread each years later.

My high school had a course called Science Fiction that was created as an alternative for the pot heads so they wouldn't have to take English Lit. You didn't have to be a pot head to take the course but.....

While most students at my school were reading Catcher in the Rye and Steinbeck I was reading 1984, Brave New World, 2001, Cat's Cadle and more. It was the awesome.

 

[Nasser22]

I am going to read Brave New World for an essay.

 

[Jersey Girl]

Only read 1984. And that was almost 10 years ago.

Ditto, except it was more like 20 years ago for me.

Damn, I can't be that old.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

for those that read these books in high school . . . go back and reread them. they are absolute masterpieces. and if you really want a test of endurance, go for atlas shrugged by ayn rand. read it as cheese and i traversed spain. it was incredible.

ps - 1984 by a shot. i really didn't care for the "savages" portion of BNW.

 

[D-Dogg]

for those that read these books in high school . . . go back and reread them. they are absolute masterpieces. and if you really want a test of endurance, go for atlas shrugged by ayn rand. read it as cheese and i traversed spain. it was incredible.

ps - 1984 by a shot. i really didn't care for the "savages" portion of BNW.

Did you mean to say "By a long shot?"

I've got Atlas Shrugged queued up to read on the ipod. I'd advise you to re-read both 1984 and Brave New World again. I always thought I preferred 1984 but having read/listened to both in the last year on re-reads, I have to say BNW is far better, imo. Maybe it is that I read BNW and listened to 1984...I'm going to get BNW from the library and put it in the ipod and give a listen..maybe I'll change my mind but I just feel that it is all more relevant.

Yes, I agree, the savages part is weak...but I think the ending torture sequence (half the book) of 1984 is equally weak. The best of that book is when they are trying to evade Big Brother, not when they are in his grasp.

 

[bratwurst]

1984 is my favorite book of all time. I've read it multiple times.

 

[Gaddabout]

After reading 1984, Aldous Huxley wrote to George Orwell in a letter:

Within the next generation I believe that the world's leaders will discover that infant conditioning and narco-hypnosis are more efficient, as instruments of government, than clubs and prisons, and that the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience

Don't really admire Huxley the person, but he was incredibly insightful. I

I'll take the short Harrison Bergeron over both. Always been more of a Vonnegut fan. They're all dystopians, I suppose.

 

[D-Dogg]

After reading 1984, Aldous Huxley wrote to George Orwell in a letter:



Don't really admire Huxley the person, but he was incredibly insightful. I

I'll take the short Harrison Bergeron over both. Always been more of a Vonnegut fan. They're all dystopians, I suppose.

I like Harrison Bergeron too, but it's just too short to weigh against the others. If there were more to it, deeper into the stuff that balanced everyone out (can't remember what they called them) it would have been awesome. It was far more funny though, than either BNW or 1984. But that's Vonnegut.

 

[Gaddabout]

I like Harrison Bergeron too, but it's just too short to weigh against the others. If there were more to it, deeper into the stuff that balanced everyone out (can't remember what they called them) it would have been awesome. It was far more funny though, than either BNW or 1984. But that's Vonnegut.

I guess I was thinking in terms of prophetic social commentary rather than literary quality, but I'm not complaining about any three of those works. All stand as revelatory.

 

[Mulli]

I like Harrison Bergeron too, but it's just too short to weigh against the others. If there were more to it, deeper into the stuff that balanced everyone out (can't remember what they called them) it would have been awesome. It was far more funny though, than either BNW or 1984. But that's Vonnegut.

I know few agree with me, but I always thought Bergeron was a bit too obvious or overplayed.

 

[Gaddabout]

I know few agree with me, but I always thought Bergeron was a bit too obvious or overplayed.

A short story that prophesied the evils of social correctness 30 years before it became an American institution? Too obvious and overplayed?

You've apparently never heard Donna Shalala speak.

 

[Mulli]

A short story that prophesied the evils of social correctness 30 years before it became an American institution? Too obvious and overplayed?

You've apparently never heard Donna Shalala speak.

Never connected the two, well done.

 

[MigratingOsprey]

unfortunately I dislike huxley and his writing approach - as such I could never really get into Brave New World, so it's 1984 really by default

 

[Mulli]

Meaningless note: I read 1984 during Saturday detention in high school for smoking in the parking lot.

 

[mannxex]

No, I agree that Bergeron was a little over the top, but I thought that was the point. In any case, Vonnegut was THE dystopian writer. "Player Piano" and "Cat's Cradle" being good examples.