Just Plain Bill
Coincidence, or what?
The calendar I
chose for 2016, The Book Lover’s Calendar, has provided me with more
than just a few coincidences as the year unfolded, but the month of November
seems especially fortuitous. Facing me all month long on the wall of my den is
the title Brave New World, by
Aldous Huxley.
As a strong
believer in serendipity, and less of a believer in chance, the title seems to
be a predictor, following this year of turmoil and angst in the selection
process of our next President of the United States.
According
to Wikipedia, Huxley focused on “…reproductive technology, sleep-learning, psychological manipulation, and classical conditioning that combine profoundly to change
society.” The utopia described by Huxley presents a world where the loss of
individual identity was feared.
Many are choosing to define the country’s new
leadership as an autocracy. While many of the predictions in Brave New World may not immediately (or obviously) relate to our
present state, there is a foreboding sense that we are all about to lose a part
of ourselves as we regress.
After surviving
the slings and arrows of this year’s treasured democratic process of a peaceful
transition of government – taking the good with the bad – can I look to a
quality novel and the sliver of hope in Huxley’s essay to provide me with a
hoped-for escape from my present reality?
Please!
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