The Janus-faced New World:Utopia-dystopia Tension In Brave New World

Brave New World depicts a hedonistic future world,of which advanced technology and social stability are the features.Till today,it remains as the best known novel of Aldous Huxley and is regarded as one of the masterpieces of dystopian novels.Utopia and dystopia are by no means in polarized opposition.Dystopian literature is originated in utopian literature and one’s utopia might be another person’s dystopia.But utopian literature and dystopian literature each have their own history and literary tradition.However,because of their close relation in their development,there is always a tension in utopian and dystopian literature.From today’s perspective,one might find some dystopian seeds in early utopian writings while imaginative dystopian societies in novels always contain some utopian elements in its planning.Therefore,a tension of utopian and dystopian elements could always be found in utopian and dystopian writings.Brave New World was written in 1932 during the interwar period when the international situation and domestic issues in the Great Britain were equally complicated.The outburst of the World War Ⅱ and ensuing Cold War changed the historical discourses on certain matters,such as eugenics.Such complexity of changing historical discourse endows Brave New World ambiguity and possibility for more interpretations,hence a stronger tension between utopia and dystopia in the imaginative new world.It is examined in this thesis that mixed literary elements of utopian and dystopian literature in the novel and the changing historical discourses on eugenics,totalitarianism and Fordism enhance the utopia-dystopia tension in the novel and such tension gives the novel a Janus face which enables the text to be interpreted in both ways.It will be argued that such dual characters of this novel is originated in the complexity and even contradictoriness in English culture,which also has a Janus face.The utopia-dystopia tension in the novel could be analyzed from multiple perspectives.In the first chapter,the focus is on utopian and dystopian literary tradition.The narrative strategies in terms of the use of romantic elements,narrative focus,narrative spaces and ambiguity of the tone are the center of discussion.It is found that Brave New World draws largely on utopian literary tradition,but there is always a sudden shift in its narrative.Although dystopian literature had not come to its maturity yet upon the novel’s publication.The sudden shift of the novel’s narrative strategy echoes with the later thriving dystopian narratives.The second chapter draws on the altered historical contexts and the author’s ideas in different periods.The divergence between the discourses before and after World War Ⅱ provides space for different interpretations.The seeming ambiguities and contraries reflect the utopia-dystopia tension in the novel.The third chapter attempts to delve into the utopia-dystopia tension.Behind Huxley’s Janus-faced new world is the dual characters of English culture.The strong tension between utopia and dystopia in Brave New World should not only be attributed to the fact that it is produced in a transitional period when utopian literature declined and dystopian writings started to come to the fore.Huxley’s nostalgia for English organic community and hatred towards American standardization affects his planning of the new world.Although it is a fact that English industrial revolution and modernization is unstoppable,the industrial spirit is also tamed by British gentry culture.The Janus face of English culture is that country imagination is not in total opposition to industrialism,but the latter always has to be "humanized" in the blueprint of ideal life.Such dual character is reflected in Huxley’s writing.Brave New World thus inherited a Janus face.