Hide this

Results from Google Books

Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.

Schöne neue Welt by Aldous Huxley

Schöne neue Welt (original 1932; edition 2009)

by Aldous Huxley, Aldous Huxley (Author), Herberth E. Herlitschka (Übersetzer)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
32,61439821 (3.96)850
Title:Schöne neue Welt
Authors:Aldous Huxley
Other authors:Aldous Huxley (Author), Herberth E. Herlitschka (Übersetzer)
Info:Fischer Taschenbuch (2009), Ausgabe: 66, Taschenbuch, 256 Seiten
Collections:Read but unowned, Wishlist
Tags:Dystopie, Gesellschaft, Glück, Philosophie

Work details

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (1932)

1001 (119) 20th century (301) British (219) British literature (237) classic (907) classics (600) drugs (122) dystopia (1,985) dystopian (315) English (140) English literature (225) fantasy (119) fiction (3,253) future (300) futuristic (123) Huxley (122) literature (625) novel (524) own (154) politics (127) read (535) satire (141) science fiction (2,673) sf (271) social commentary (124) speculative fiction (108) to-read (284) totalitarianism (184) unread (120) utopia (247)
1930s (2)
Unread books (1,046)
  1. 642
    1984 by George Orwell (chrisharpe, zasmine, MinaKelly, li33ieg, haraldo, Ludi_Ling)
    zasmine: For Orwell was inspired by it. And Orwell's 1984 is as much of a prize as it.
    li33ieg: 1984, Brave New World and Fahrenheit 451: 3 essential titles that remind us of the need to keep our individual souls pure.
    Ludi_Ling: Really, the one cannot be mentioned without the other. Actually, apart from the dystopian subject matter, they are very different stories, but serve as a great counterpoint to one another.
  2. 432
    Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (phoenix7g, meggyweg, Babou_wk, haraldo)
    Babou_wk: Contre-utopie, société future où l'unique but de la vie est le bonheur. Toute pratique requérant de la réflexion est bannie.
  3. 252
    A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess (MinaKelly)
  4. 140
    The Giver by Lois Lowry (afyfe)
  5. 120
    Brave New World Revisited by Aldous Huxley (pyrocow)
  6. 143
    We by Jevgeni Zamjatin (hippietrail, tehran)
    hippietrail: The original dystopian novel from which both Huxley and Orwell drew inspiration.
    tehran: Brave New World was largely inspired by Zamyatin's We.
  7. 80
    The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood (mcenroeucsb)
    mcenroeucsb: Both are benchmarks for dystopian literature.
  8. 60
    The Tempest by William Shakespeare (Sylak)
    Sylak: Caliban in The Tempest has many parallels with John the Savage in Brave New World.
  9. 61
    Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (sanddancer)
  10. 40
    The Machine Stops by E. M. Forster (artturnerjr)
    artturnerjr: If you read only one other dystopian SF story, make it this one (well, you should read 1984, too, but you knew that already, didn't you?).
  11. 40
    Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut (Anonymous user)
  12. 40
    This Perfect Day by Ira Levin (KayCliff)
  13. 30
    Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm (rat_in_a_cage)
    rat_in_a_cage: Hinweis auf Rückentext bei »Hier sangen früher Vögel«.
  14. 30
  15. 118
    Catch-22 by Joseph Heller (fundevogel)
  16. 10
    The Devils of Loudun by Aldous Huxley (John_Vaughan)
  17. 76
    Stranger in a Strange Land (uncut edition) by Robert A. Heinlein (meggyweg)
  18. 10
    Men Like Gods by H. G. Wells (Sylak)
    Sylak: Basically a parody of Wells' own book published seven years earlier.
  19. 10
    Kallocain by Karin Boye (Mouseear)
  20. 10
    Love Among The Ruins by Evelyn Waugh (KayCliff)

(see all 32 recommendations)



No current Talk conversations about this book.

» See also 850 mentions

English (365)  Spanish (11)  French (4)  Dutch (4)  German (4)  Catalan (2)  Swedish (2)  Finnish (2)  Portuguese (1)  Portuguese (Brazil) (1)  Slovak (1)  Danish (1)  All languages (398)
Showing 1-5 of 365 (next | show all)
Ik registreerde een boek op BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/10417743 ( )
  Moem | Mar 11, 2014 |
This is a classic for a reason.
I can see that some of the thinking isn't very profound; still, there is thinking, and it's both interesting and entertaining. The book is in many ways surprisingly modern for its time. I'm glad I finally read it and I enjoyed it quite a bit. ( )
  Moem | Mar 11, 2014 |
I liked the book when I read it in the 10th grade with the best English teacher I had in high school, and Huxley became one of my favorite authors at that time. I went on to read several other of his novels, and have maintained my interest ever since. ( )
  drsabs | Feb 23, 2014 |
As I was reading this book parts of the story were somewhat familiar to me, though I cannot really say that it is not original since most of the familiarity came from stories that were produced long after this book originally hit the selves. One particular movie that comes to mind is 'Demolition Man' staring Sylvester Stalone.
Okay, this is an action movie, but I feel that there are a lot of similarities between this film and this book, though the ending does come out differently (in that the world of Demolition Man is destroyed and people once again learn freedom of thought). The idea is that the world experiences a very devastating war, and as a result of this world the winners decide to remake society so such a tragedy never happens again. In a way they pretty much wipe the history from the minds of the people (and history is one thing that creates wars because we get to a point, as is seen in places like Ireland, were people fight simply because that is what they had been doing for centuries) and destroy everything that is old. Further, all relationships are destroyed, so there is no family unit anymore, and all literature is also destroyed, so that the only things that exist are scientific text books and mindless entertainment (such as movies like 'Demolition Man').
It is interesting the arguments that are put forth in favour of this world. The idea is to have stability and to have happiness, but not the greatest amount of happiness. The reason for that is the happier one becomes, the greater the propensity for unhappiness. Therefore, literature is destroyed, and while families make people happy, families break down, and thus create unhappiness, which in turn upsets the stability of society. It is not happiness that is important, but stability.
This is the major point of the novel. Like Demolition Man, a chaotic element is introduced into the equation. In Demolition Man this was Simon Pheonix and John Spartan, and in A Brave New World, this was Linda and John. Both examples came from a time and a place outside of the perfectly stable world, and their introduction to this stable world causes instability. However, as it turns out, this introduction (in the case of Simon Pheonix in Demotion Man, and in the case of John in A Brave New World) was to serve a purpose. However, Hollywood had to have the conclusion of its film result in the destruction of this world, whereas with Huxley things end up going on as they have always been going on (which to me makes for a much better ending).
The idea of history is interesting. The idea that I see here is that history has ceased to exist. Progress creates instability, and as I have previously mentioned, history creates bitter feelings and blood feuds, and the only way to maintain stability to to simply remove history. Therefore, once this society had reached the point of stability, society simply moves on and history ceases to exist. Every day was the same as every other day, and people simply go about doing the same things as they have always done. I guess it is the same with literature in that what literature does is that it introduces change, and what change introduces is instability. For instance, I have finished this book, and thus I move on to the next book, and in moving on to the next book, there has been a change in my life.
Literature, and in particular Shakespeare, plays a significant role in this book. The title of the book, 'A Brave New World' comes out of the play 'The Tempest' where Miranda, having been exposed to a man that is not her father, cries out:

O wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,
That has such people in't.

She is referring to men, because up until that part of the play (which occurs at the end) the only people she had been in contact with was her father and the monster Caliban. This occurs entirely on an island ruled by her father, but her father introduces her to the new world, the world beyond the island, where she goes off to become Queen of Naples.
I can see that Huxley has taken scenes from his book right out of Shakespeare, in that John has grown up on a reservation with only his mother to keep him company, and upon travelling to London, he is exposed to a new world, and thus he cries repeatedly 'oh Brave New World'. It is no coincidence that John is extremely familiar with the works of William Shakespeare as he has grown up with them.
The other play that is mentioned regularly is Othello, not one of Shakespeare's most violent, but the one in which we see the worst of humanity expose itself. If you are not familiar with Othello you should check out my commentary on the play, but basically it is about this guy who convinces another guy that his faithful wife is cheating on him, so the second guy kills her. This is not a play that encourages stability, but in fact it is a play that takes place on the fringes of civilisation and that on the fringes, civilisation begins to collapse.
Maybe that is the reason why John is so interested in Othello is because it is about how civilisation is not always stable. However, in this society, stability is the key. People are bred in test tubes and are then conditioned through hypnotherapy, and are then given a job to do. There is no ambition, simply contentment, as they go about their lives working, and when they are not working, they are resting. Things are different at the top though, because there is ambition at the top, and experimentation. They experiment with shorter working days only to discover that the masses do not know how to use their leisure time. They also experiment with making everybody alphas, and that fails because the knowledge that the alphas have means that they all want their rights. Therefore, they create the masses, or the working classes, who do not think, they simply do.
The society that we see in this book is the society of a machine. The machine simply keeps on moving with no point and no purpose. It simply exists. In a way this is what our society is becoming in and of itself – it is a machine. The alphas in our society have discovered that there are flaws with universal education in that people think, and by thinking, they cannot be controlled, so they cut back on education, and put them to work. It is a more stable society where the masses work, and then go home and watch sport and drink alcohol, than actually going out onto the streets demanding equal pay, equal rites, and access to essential services. It is better to put them in menial jobs and have their time caught up in those jobs, than to give them free time where they can cause trouble.
This is what the problem with technological development is, and this is where our world is breaking away from the world of Aldous Huxley. As our technology advances, and as machines take the place of human labour, it displaces humans, putting them out of work, which means they become idle. An idle human is an unstable human, because idle humans have too much time to think, and by thinking, and organising, then can in turn attack, and even overthrow, the system. This is what happened in France, particularly among the middle classes. It is much better to keep people occupied in work, than to have them out of work. However, the catch is, that a person out of work can be kept idle through the use of drugs, and we see this in our society where many of the unemployed dull themselves with drugs so that not only are they exposing themselves to criminal sanctions, but they are also remaining dull so that they cannot revolt against the established order. ( )
1 vote David.Alfred.Sarkies | Feb 1, 2014 |
I've had this book on my TBR for about 4 or 5 years now and I'm so glad I was finally able to pick it up. It was absolutely everything I thought it was going to be. I was so engrossed and literally couldn't put it down. Mindblowingly fantastic (in my opinion anyways).

Brave New World is about a society that is completely controlled from before birth and all the way through their lives with conditioning and scientific influence. All babies are born from test tubes and are "conditioned" (raised) in centres that assure that they will be perfect adults that fit into society absolutely. This is achieved through pre-determining their rank and how they will be conditioned such as are they going to be scientists or factory workers. They are then subjected to conditioning that moulds everyone to believe that they are living the perfect life. In my opinion this entire concept is what makes the book mind blowing because it is totalitarian to the point of dsytopian.

The portrayal of sex in the novel is another key point throughout this novel and I thought it was executed brilliantly. Sex is viewed differently from our perceptions; practically everyone just has sex and it is a form of entertainment. They start from an early age and no one marries or falls in love. They just have sex with someone a couple times then move onto the next one. This was so interesting to watch to play through.

Also the use of Soma (a drug that induces euphoria and in heavier doses, deep sleep periods called soma holidays) was incredibly well done. The citizens of this controlled world rely on the drug to get on with day to day life. It's controlled addiction.

The characters themselves didn't seem to be used as main plot points, except for John, the Savage, who is the contrast in the book, who attempts to prove that liberty and the happiness/pain that goes with it is superior to this controlled and conditioned civilisation. John serves as the reader's opinion on the aspects of the controlled environment because it is in our nature to view this sort of culture as disturbing and horrifying.

This book really brings about some important philosophical and ethical questions about whether it is right or wrong to condition (passively control) everyone to adapt to a set of ideals that brings about general happiness for everyone. It takes away our born right of freedom and liberality and forces us to be happy. What is the difference between forcing someone to be happy or sad when in the end you're still forcing someone to do something or think a certain way, when they have no actual choice? This book definitely induces these types of philosophical ponders.

Absolutely amazing premise and execution. Would recommend to pretty much everyone who doesn't mind a small amount of mind-fuckery.
( )
1 vote bethie-paige | Jan 29, 2014 |
Showing 1-5 of 365 (next | show all)
It has remained for Aldous Huxley to build the Utopia to end Utopias-or such Utopias as go to mechanics for their inspiration, at any rate. He has satirized the imminent spiritual trustification of mankind, and has made rowdy and impertinent sport of the World State whose motto shall be Community, Identity, Stability.

» Add other authors (43 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Aldous Huxleyprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Bradshaw, DavidIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Hernández, RamónTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
McAfee, MaraIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Montagu, AshleyIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Orras, I. H.Translatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Snow, GeorgeCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
York, MichaelNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.
For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.
Series (with order)
Canonical title
Original title
Alternative titles
Original publication date
Important places
Important events
Related movies
Awards and honors
Les utopies apparaissent bien plus réalisables qu'on ne le croyait autrefois. Et nous nous trouvons actuellement devant une question bien autrement angoissante : comment éviter leur réalisation définitive ?… Les utopies sont réalisables. La vie marche vers les utopies. Et peut-être un siècle nouveau commence-t-il, un siècle où les intellectuels et la classe cultivée rêveront aux moyens d'éviter les utopies et de retourner à une société non utopique moins 'parfaite' et plus libre.
(—Nicholas Berdiaeff)
First words
A squat grey building of only thirty-four stories.
Unorthodoxy threatens more than the life of a mere individual; it strikes at Society itself.
..."What fun it would be," he thought, "if one didn't have to think about happiness!"
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
Disambiguation notice
Brave New World is by Aldous Huxley. If you have H.G. Wells as the author of Brave New World, please correct your data. Thank you.
Publisher's editors
Publisher series

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English (2)

Book description
A fantasy of the future which sheds a blazing, critical light on the present - considered to be Aldous Huxley’s most enduring masterpiece.

Far in the future, the World Controllers have created the ideal society. Through clever use of genetic engineering, brainwashing and recreational sex and drugs all its members are happy consumers. Bernard Marx seems alone harbouring an ill-defined longing to break free. A visit to one of the few remaining Savage Reservations where the old, imperfect life still continues, may be the cure for his distress…
Haiku summary

Amazon.com Amazon.com Review (ISBN 0060929871, Paperback)


(retrieved from Amazon Mon, 30 Sep 2013 13:30:26 -0400)

(see all 6 descriptions)

A fantasy of the future that sheds a blazing critical light on the present--considered to be Aldous Huxley's most enduring masterpiece. Mr. Huxley is eloquent in his declaration of an artist's faith in man, and it is his eloquence, bitter in attack, noble in defense, that, when one has closed the book, one remembers. A Fantastic racy narrative, full of much excellent satire and literary horseplay. It is as sparkling, provocative, as brilliant, in the appropriate sense, as impressive ads the day it was published. This is in part because its prophetic voice has remained surprisingly contemporary, both in its particular forecasts and in its general tone of semiserious alarm. But it is much more because the book succeeds as a work of art. This is surely Huxley's best book.… (more)

(summary from another edition)

» see all 20 descriptions

Legacy Library: Aldous Huxley


See Aldous Huxley's legacy profile.

See Aldous Huxley's author page.

Quick Links

Popular covers


Average: (3.96)
0.5 11
1 117
1.5 43
2 378
2.5 99
3 1714
3.5 505
4 3410
4.5 432
5 2818


Four editions of this book were published by Audible.com.

See editions

Penguin Australia

An edition of this book was published by Penguin Australia.

» Publisher information page


Help/FAQs | About | Privacy/Terms | Blog | Contact | LibraryThing.com | APIs | WikiThing | Common Knowledge | Legacy Libraries | Early Reviewers | 88,830,094 books! | Top bar: Always visible