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From: Intelligence Squared To: j leevacation@gmai .com> Subject: Adam Gopnik and Will Self in Brave New World vs Nineteen Eighty-Four Date: The, 03 Oct 2017 15:55:32 +0000 uneingence - nen r Mr 0 U Ie IIw ,,Brave New World vs Nineteen Eighty-Four Tues 28th Nov. 7pm. Emmanuel Centre Advocate for Nineteen Eighty-Four Dystopian books and films are in the zeitgeist. Reflecting the often Adam Gopnik dark mood of our times, Intelligence Squared are staging a Award-winning author, essayist. lecturer and contest between two of the greatest dystopian novels. Brave New broadcaster, who has been a staff writer on the World and Nineteen Eighty-Four. Each book captured the New Yorker since 1986. His work encompasses nightmares of the 1930s and 40s. But which vision looks more the arts, travel, food, sport and children's fiction. prescient to us now in the 21st century? Are we living in George as well as lyrics and librettos for musicals. After Orwell's sinister surveillance state? Or in Aldous Huxley's vapid Trump's first week in office, he wrote in the New consumerist culture? To battle it out, we are bringing two Yorker about 'how primitive, atavistic, and celebrated writers, Adam Gopnik and Will Self, to our stage. uncomplicatedly brutal Trump's brand of authoritarianism is turning out to be. We have to After Donald Trump was elected, it seemed as if Nineteen Eighty- go back to -1984" because, in effect, we have to Four had clinched it. The book shot to the top of the bestseller go back to 1948 to get the flavor.' charts. It felt so ominously familiar. In Orwell's dystopia, the corporate state controls the news, insisting that 'whatever the Party holds to be truth is truth'. That sounds very like Trump's Advocate for Brave New World 'alternative facts', and the war he is waging on the lake news' media. Orwell imagined two-way telescreens spying on every IPi Will Self citizen's home. Today we have Amazon's 'always listening' Alexa Widely acclaimed novelist, broadcaster, political device, while Google, Facebook and the security agencies hoover commentator and literary critic, known for his up our personal data for their own ends. Orwell also described an acerbic wit. He has been described in the Inner Party - two percent of the population - enjoying all the Guardian as the most daring and delightful privileges and political control. Isn't that scarily close to the 'one novelist of his generation. His most recent percent', reviled for their wealth and influence by anti-capitalists novels are Umbrella. Shark and Phone, a trilogy today? No wonder everyone rushed out to buy the book. which the New Statesman predicted will become 'one of the most significant literary But Orwell's critics say Nineteen Eighty-Four is a dated dystopia. works of our century, books that reflect and a vision that died along with communism. The novel that better refract the hideousness of our times.' foresaw our present, they say, is Brave New World. Here Aldous Huxley imagined a plastic techno-society where sex is casual. Chair and Actors entertainment light and consumerism rampant. There are pills to make people happy, virtual reality shows to distract the masses from actual reality, and hook-ups to take the place of love and To be announced. commitment. Isn't that all a bit close to home? Huxley even imagined a caste system created by genetic engineering, from alpha and beta types right down to a slave underclass. We may not have gone down that road, but gene-editing might soon EFTA00651567  enable Silicon Valleys super-rich to extend their lifespans and enhance the looks and intelligence of their offspring. Will we soon witness the birth of a new genetic super-class? Both these novels imagined extraordinary futures, but which better captures our present and offers the keener warning about where we may be heading? Join us on November 28th as our advocates go head to head, with a cast of top actors who will illustrate their arguments with readings from the novels. ssusive pr.wruuc wunwvw lo CILCUIJUK Intelligence Squared Is proudly supported by its media partner rA VANITY FAIR Unsubscribe Intelligence' Ltd , Newcombe House, 45 Notting Hill Gate, London WII 3LQ Copyright (c) Intelligence' Ltd. All rights reserved. EFTA00651568