以弗洛伊德精神分析理论解《美丽新世界》 (2)

菜单

2 Literature Review 3

2.1 Huxley and his works 3

2.2 Freud and the development of his psychoanalytic theories 4

2.3 An overview of psychoanalytic theories involved 5

3 Analysis of the Society in Brave New World under Freudian Theories 8

3.1 Social Operating Mechanism in Brave New World 8

3.2 The Influence of Group on Inpiduals 14

3.3 “Uncivilized” Sexual Morality and Civilization 17

4 Analysis of the Inpiduals in Brave New World 20

4.1 John the Savage and Oedipus complex 20

4.2 Lenina and Pathological Super-ego 23

4.3 Bernard and Helmholtz, Different Types of Deviation 26

5 Conclusion 31

Bibliography 33

1 Introduction

Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World enjoys a high reputation among English language fiction world. When it published in 1932, it provoked a lot of discussions because much of the discourse on man’s future before 1914 was base on the thesis that humanity would solve all economic and social issues by technology; however, Huxley anticipates a world, in which technology indeed solves all of the “problems”, as well as the freedom of will. Thus, Huxley was criticized for his revolting against the “Age of Utopias”, and Brave New World became a typical science and dystopian fiction.

Nearly in the same period when the novel was written and published, an Austrian neurologist, Sigmund Freud, gave birth to the far-reaching psychoanalytic theories. As soon as Freud’s doctrine developed it aroused massive disputes, because it overturned the tradition philosophy at one stroke. Especially, Freud proposed that Libido, which takes sexual instinct as its core, is the dynamic and basis of all human behaviors and the development of a civilization is the result of repressing the satisfaction of people's instinct, which is the root of modern neurosis (2014:123). Nevertheless, we scarcely note that in Brave New World technology also solves another major issue—the freedom of sex, which would be an interesting research object under the scope of psychoanalysis. Moreover, besides sexual promiscuity, the extreme gregarious society and the inner conflicts of inpiduals also fall into the scope of psychoanalysis.

What is the most interesting is that these two great thinkers of the turn of 20th century, Freud and Huxley, echo each other through their works. Freud queried that “is it necessary for us to make such a great sacrifice for this ‘civilized’ sexual morality?” (2014:123), and Huxley answered with his Brave New World, in which there is “uncivilized” sexual morality. Huxley raised an ultimate question in his book by the mouth of John the savage, that why happiness and art cannot coexist (2007:187-196); and Freud answered with his pan-sex theory, that art is the sublimation of suppressed sexual instinct. In this paper, the author is going to effectuate a conversation between Freud and Huxley across time and space.

Since the beginning of 20th, psychoanalysis has been a new efficient instrument for literary criticism, shedding new light on many literary works. However, Huxley’s Brave New World still remains untapped; Hence, the author is going to interpret this novel with a fresh perspective. This paper aims at scrutinize the operation mechanism, revealing the true nature of the society depicted in the book and discerning the internal factors which shapes the character’s psyche and personality by utilizing Freud’s psychoanalytic theories, such as personality structure, pan-sex theory, group psychology, and Oedipus complex.