Eiland (original 1962; edition 1974)

I'm on a roll. Or rather I've finally figured out how to find lots of books that I'll love. So many five stars, and it's only February. Anyways.

This book is like a savory meal that is extremely good for you. Or any activity that is rewarding in all the right ways. Hardin's 'Tragedy of the Commons' comes to mind, or more a massive extension on its logic in a world where there's a country that fully accepts it. Will brings enough cynicism into the utopia to put up a good fight, but his acceptance and appreciation was inevitable. His main issue was jealousy; from this stems his desire to bring the place down to the level that he has been forced into acclimatizing to for his entire life. You can't keep that attitude up for long though under these circumstances. At least, I definitely wouldn't be able to.

And Huxley. He took his amazingly keen analysis of human nature and applied to a future of improvement, not the future of the inevitable as he did in 'Brave New World'. There's little chance of it, but oh how I wish this story would come to pass. In some way, some form, somehow. Long after I'm dead, that's for sure.

The world is too bogged down by those who don't appreciate the logic and genius reasoning behind all this. Of course it’s awfully idealistic and whatnot but still. It's a shame, really. I can't see any reason to dim the brilliance of this book in order to acknowledge its imperfections. It's again like Hardin says. People are so used to rejecting any imperfect reform that comes around in favor of maintaining the status quo, that nothing ever really happens. Perhaps it's a bit much to apply it to book reviews. But hey, I love this book. And I get to apply recent learning. I love being able to do that. ( )

This is less of a novel, and more of an expanded philosophical treatise on Huxley's version of a utopia.

The society of the island Pala is the inverse of, and parallel to, the society of Brave New World. Instead of a rudimentary caste system, jobs are assigned from personal interest and capability. Education is communal, in order to prevent passing of parental neuroses or flaws and ease socialization. The emphasis of sex is not solely to have a lot of it, but to enjoy it and make an experience out of it. Lots of ideas are derived from Eastern philosophy.

Such a society does not shun all technology, however. Refrigeration and hydroelectricity are essential to keep the basic necessities of society going, as well as modern medicine. However, the overproduction of consumer goods is limited, so as to prevent outside invasion but also conspicuous consumption. Genetic modification and contraception are common, but to pass on good qualities instead of enforcing superiority or inferiority.

Most notably, instead of soma being used to make the populace dumb and happy, they are used as a means of personal growth and experimentation. The most common drug is named moshka, derived from a mushroom and somewhat analogous to psilocybin or mescaline.

Compassion and faith seem to be the cornerstones of this society, not ideology or advancement.

Island's influence is very clear as an archetype of psychedelic drug fiction. However, it refrains from the sheer unbounded optimism which these thought experiments entail. At the end of the novel, the island is seized in a coup backed by dictatorial and corporate interests, and the fate of the islanders is uncertain. Huxley knows only too well what happens to the people of loving-happiness, eternal compassion and attention compared to the advance of the Other. ( )

A letter from 7/Jan/MMXII
Hey M-,
I wanted to thank you again for the gift. Over the past few years both Mom and Dad have hesitated about giving me books as gifts, despite the fact that they are always welcome and appreciated as far as gifts go. I guess I reached a threshold where, in mom and dad's eyes, I have become too well read for them too shock me with books. I think I am far from that point, and I also think that to be well read is not something you achieve, but something you painstakingly maintain. That being said, I really do appreciate both this book, and the one that you got before me, and I appreciate that you gave them to me without to many screams of 'Haven't you read everything yet?'
Complaints aside, I am writing to tell you that today, after a long night of drinking last night, I finished reading Huxley's Island. I found the book to be rather enjoyable, and it makes me wonder whether or not I should reread Brave New World. I read it when I lived in Boston and I am entirely unsure about whether I really had the maturity to enjoy it at that age. It certainly could use a reread. It is a strange sentiment to have, considering memory (and I have long ago learned not to always trust memory) recount my having enjoyed Brave New World.
Huxley was rather ambitious with this novel, and perhaps to much so. I think you would agree that it is not so much a novel as a philosophical treatise about, at the most basic level, political philosophy. I am going to ramble off a little about things I have pretty much just finished learning for an Ideologies class, so please forgive me. By Political I mean not Politics, which is the every day happenings of life and politicians, but about a theory of conflict. It is, oddly enough, the word Politics whose etymological meaning is something to the affect of 'How to get along in the city', but in academics these things tend to get inversed. So what I was saying was that Huxley has written a theory of a society that gets along. It is in a respect a Utopian novel, despite the fact that we see the bulldozers at the tail end of it, ready to knock down paradise. I see how this stand along side BNW, but if this was supposed to be a model of how a utopian society should be, i think it falls short. Mostly this is because I do not see the possibility of a Utopian society, ever. Huxley seems to lament not progress, but the massive amount of waste and all other non necessities that accompany the society we currently live in. And while I agree on many respects about how he sees this society and its future (better argumented in BNW) I dont really see how this society would function at a global scale.
People nowadays argue heavily against globalization, in that it has a very unfair distribution of resources (and in turn, wealth). What Huxley is arguing here is for is globalization's opposite, localization. The problem with this that it requires that each community have enough resources to maintain itself. And while we may all live by our means, we may desire more. Each community can recognize how much food it can produce, but does every community have enough silicone to maintain something like a personal world wide web. Likely not.
But the bigger problem is in human nature. We are all possessive in our nature, and that possesiveness is rather deep seeded. And, despite the way this society is structured, at some point someone will simply want something that they cannot have. We saw a bit of this in the case of the young girl who feel in love with the Raja who wanted nothing to do with her, but I think I disagreed with the extent of her getting over it. People do not easily get over things, and blessed are those who do. I sometimes still think about a relationship that failed five damn years ago. If I had another chance, what would I do of it? Probably nothing, but I am (and here you will disagree with me) rather tame in my temperament. What would a worse person do? A society presented as this one is does not take into account the massive amounts of differences in taste that naturally occur within individuals. We have people like Hipsters, who will only like things based on its obscurities. And then again, we have large people who like whatever is presented to them in terms of music and arts. And I think this represents a lot about how people function in society. Some will want to be a part of it simply because everyone else is, and others will want to be apart from it simply because everyone else is a part of it.
I could go on, but my energy for one writing is just about spent.
How have you been since returning to S-? We really didnt have a chance to chat much, and I recognize that on this trip it was largely my fault, but what can I say, I needed out of V-.
Hope all is well, drop me a line when you can.
And thank you again.
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-M. ( )

I quite enjoyed this book. Written in the early 1960s, Huxley has a great grasp of our modern idea of mindfulness. Birds remind Pala's inhabitants to pay "Attention" to the "Here and Now." Instead of saying grace at meals, everyone takes an initial mindful bite, chewing very slowly until the food has disintegrated in their mouths. Mindful meditation techniques are used in healing the ill and in intimate relationships. Great description of a conscious and aware education system. ( )

This was a book group selection that I read many years after my other Huxley titles. Terrific writing, yes it's a bit didactic, but I really really enjoyed it... save the ending. Very good novel of ideas; we had a terrific conversation about it. ( )