It’s really interesting reading Huxley’s Brave New World again after Houllebecq. Houellebecq’s reading of the society portrayed in the novel is morally ambiguous in comparison to the way in which the phrase ‘Brave New World’ has entered the vernacular to signify a technological consumerist dystopia.
The idea that Houllebecq borrows is that, in late capitalist society the traditional family unit and viviparous motherhood are totally incommensurate with a system where sex is just another commodity. This dissonance results in epidemic levels of depression and to some degree, ideological conflict. The so-called sexual revolution of the sixties, in conjunction with certain other factors, precipitated the total meltdown of western society.
The solution: remove competitiveness from reproduction; engineer the animal out of the man. Humans have outgrown their biology. It’s time create our successors. Pretty wacky I know – but after you’ve read enough sordid Houellebecq sex scenes it seems quite an attractive idea.
Sometimes when I look at the all the evidence of our ‘raunch’ culture I think Houellebecq may be correct in this rather depressing view of things. Maybe the Jihadists are right! But predictably enough, I’m more inclined to just blame capitalism, or rather the way it’s managed, or not managed, if you see what I mean. Not much of a conclusion I know, but it’s a start.