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a student reading in the University of Birmingham library

Pleasure or pain? How to run a dystopia

This English Literature Masterclass will look at the different forms of control Huxley and Orwell imagined in their dystopias.
a student reading in the University of Birmingham library

This interactive lecture will centre on the debate between Aldous Huxley and George Orwell regarding the methods needed to control people in their respective dystopias: Brave New World (1932), on the pleasure side, and Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), on the pain side.

We'll think not only about how Huxley and Orwell very differently imagined socio-political and technological control, but also about how Anglo-American culture has privileged Orwell's vision of the future over Huxley's, and why that privileging matters in today's world.

This event is part of our Masterclasses series and is open to students in Years 12 and 13.

Masterclass leader

  • Nathan Waddell

    Professor of Twentieth-Century Literature

    Department of English Literature

    Biographical and contact information for Professor Nathan Waddell in the Department of English Literature at the University of Birmingham.

Location

Address
Teaching and Learning BuildingUniversity of BirminghamEdgbastonBirminghamB15 2SB
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