Nothing to See Here, Move On: A New Look at Humor in Aldous Huxley’s Mock-Dystopic Brave New World

Abstract

Is there anything new left to say about Huxley’s Brave New World ninety years later? The novel has been analyzed for its sociopolitical predictions, read against 1984, and examined for its satire of Wells and Ford. Common to such approaches is the assumption that the World State is as abhorrently stable as the narrative claims. This essay’s argument holds that the World State’s success is counterfactually reported and undermined for parodic effect, and that Brave New World functions as a humorous mock-dystopia.