Projections of the Future World : A Study of Rahul Sankritayan’s Baaewin Sadi , Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World and George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty Four
Author : Dr. K.S. Kang
Contents
1. Genesis and Milieu 2-6
2. Introduction to Authors 7- 17
3. Future as Imagined by Rahul Sankritayan in his work Baaeswi Sadi 18-31
4. View of Future World in Aldous Huxley’s in Brave New World 32- 42
5. Future as visualised by George Orwell in his work Nineteen Eighty Four 43-48
6. Inferences and Conclusions 49-53
I
Introduction or Genesis
Man is a rational creature that distinguishes him from other creatures of the world. John Donne considers reason as God’s viceroy in human being that is lacking in other creatures. Being a rational creature every man has right to visualise the future or his ideal world or society. But as it often happens that writer being a sensitive being is able to express what he visualises in his mind while the common man can only visualise but rarely expresses it. So everybody is a mute Milton while poets and authors having a comprehensive soul succeed in putting into words, ‘ what often is felt by a common man but seldom expressed.’ As the future world is visualized in fiction or rather science fiction so let this work begin by taking up the term fiction. Oxford Dictionary defines fiction as ‘ literature in the form of prose, specially novels, that describes imaginary events and people.’ Even the term novel has a ‘common attribute of being extended works of prose fiction’ (Abrahms : 110). Taking its origin from the Italian word ‘novella’ that means a little new thing novel with time developed into various forms like sociological novel, regional novel, Historical novel and the like. One another category of the novel or fiction is Science fiction popularly termed as SF or Sci-Fi. It is a genre of speculative fiction that typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel universes, and extraterrestrial life. It has also been called as the literature of ideas, and it often explores the potential consequences of scientific, social, and technological innovations. Its roots can be traced back to ancient mythology, and is related to fantasy, horror, and superhero fiction, and contains many sub genres. Its exact definition has long been an issue of dispute among authors, critics, scholars and readers. According to Issac Asimov, “ Science fiction can be defined as that branch of literature which deals with the reaction of human beings to changes in science and technology. Many critics consider H.G. Wells one of Science Fiction’s most important or even Shakespeare of of science fiction. His notable science fiction works include The Time Machine, The Island of Doctor Moreau, The Invisible Man, and The War of the Worlds. Other prominent authors of this genre are Jules Verne, particularly in his work Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and Edgar Allen Poe in his work The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall, published in 1835.
Another term that need to be discussed with regard to authors and works under study is Utopias and Dystopias. Utopia was the title of a book about an imaginary commonwealth written in Latin by the Renaissance humanist, Sir Thomas More. This title plays on two Greek words “outopia” (no place) and “eutopia” (good place). ( Abrahms: 177). The term utopia has come to signify the class of fiction which represents an ideal political state and way of life. The first great instance of this type of writing is Plato’s Republic, which sets forth, in dialogue form, the eternal idea of commonwealth that can only be distantly approximated political organizations in the actual world. Most Utopias since Plato’s beginning with that of Sir Thomas More, represent their ideal place under the fiction of a distant country reached by some venturesome traveller. There have been many more utopias written since More gave impetus to this genre , some as mere Arcadian dream, others as blue prints for social and technological progress. They include Francis Bacon’s New Atlantis, Edward Bellamy’s Looking Backward, William Morris’ News from Nowhere and James Hilton’s Lost Horizon. The term Dystopia (bad place) has come to be applied to works of fiction which represent a very unpleasant imaginary world, in which certain ominous tendencies of the contemporary world are projected in some future culmination. Good examples of this type of writing is two authors and their works under study Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World and George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty Four. The history of dystopian literature can be traced back to E.M. Forster’s work The Machine Stops. M. Keith Booker states that The Machine Stops, We and Brave New World “ the great defining texts of the genre of dystopian fiction, both in the vividness of their engagement with real world social and political issues and in the scope of the their critiques of the societies on which they focus.” Another significant figure in dystopian literature is H.G. Wells, whose work The Time Machine is also seen as a prototype of dystopian literature.
One of the basic purpose of this work is not only to trace the elements of Science Fiction in these works under study but also to trace the elements of utopia and dystopia in these works and the extent to which these authors have succeeded in visualising the future world by measuring it with the contemporary world because both the dictum hold water that Fiction is stranger than reality and sometimes reality is also stranger than fiction. This work also aims to trace how much the future world imagined by these authors have been transferred into reality. All these three authors under study lived and wrote in the first half of the twentieth century which was one of the most turbulent and disturbing phase in the human history as the world had witnessed two highly destructive world wars that had nearly eliminated life from this planet. Eminent poets like T.S. Eliot and W.B.Yeats had projected the dismal situation in the world in their works like Eliot’s The Wasteland and W.B. Yeats in his poem The Second Coming. These world wars which were the worst calamity created not by nature but by man himself that nearly ensured the destruction of life from the Earth. Eliot in his work The Waste Land claims that the rising greed and materialism among the mankind and decline in religious, moral and emotional values is the basic reason for this downfall and the only remedy is to follow the tri formula mentioned by Lord Brahma in Vrihadaranayak Upnishad that show mercy to every creature in this world, sacrifice or devote your life for some noble cause as the human civilisation is irrigated by the blood of martyrs who have laid down their lives for some noble cause and overcome the worst enemy of human kind Ego and practise restraint and self control and be sympathetic towards your fellow beings and come out of the shell of pride, ego and self conceit. While Yeats in his work The Second Coming felt that the time of Christ’s promise, mentioned in The Bible has come in which Jesus Christ had promised human beings that when the world will be full of evil he will return in human incarnation to destroy evil and setup the Kingdom of God on the Earth that will ensure peace and harmony for ever. Even in the first part of twentieth century a whole generation of war poets like Wilfred Owen, Stephen Spender, Rupert Brooke had sprung who expressed their anger, frustration and disappointment at the worsening world situation. These authors had an identical milieu that can be defined in Cambridge Dictionary ‘the people, physical and social conditions and events that provide the environment in which somebody acts or lives’. As all these three novelists lived and wrote in the first half of twentieth century as the works under study Rahul Sanskritayan’s Baaeswin Sadi was written in 1924, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World was written in 1932 and George Orwell’s work Nineteen Eighty Four was composed in 1948 as the novelist has merely changed the last two digits of the year in which it was written as the title of his novel. As these writers lived and wrote in the first half of twentieth century so there is a need to have a look at the milieu of first half of twentieth century which was marked by significant events like Spanish Flu Pandemic, World War I, Formation of League of Nations and its failure to ensure lasting world peace, The Great Economic Depression of 1929, World War II that came up as the failure of League of Nations, and use of Nuclear weapon by America in Japan that terminated the hostilities of World War II at once, formation of another international body United Nations in 1945 to ensure world peace and beginning of Cold War between western capitalist bloc led by USA and Communist bloc led by Soviet Russia. The deaths from acts of war during the two world wars alone have been estimated between 50 to 80 millions. The Armemian, Syriac and Greek genocide were the systematic destruction, mass murder and explusions of the Armenians, Assyrians, and Greeks in the Ottoman Empire during first world war, spearheaded by ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP). Rising nationalism and increasing national awareness were one of the primary causes of World War i, that involved for the first time in human history all the major world powers like Germany, France, Italy, Japan, Russia/USSR, British Empire and the United States. This Great War, as it was known prior to Second World War, led to the creation of many new countries, especially in in Eastern Europe. This war, at that time was considered by many as “war to end all wars.” Another significant development of the first part of twentieth century was that women became more independent as they succeeded in acquiring political rights in United States of America and much of Europe. The advent of new birth control techniques also helped in the empowerment of women in this era. Then industrial warfare greatly increased in its scale and complexity during the first half of 20th century. Notable developments included Chemical Warfare, the introduction of military aviation or air force in Second World War and the widespread use of submarines. The introduction of nuclear warfare in the mid 20th Century marked the definite transition to modern warfare. This time also saw a number of civil wars in many nations, particularly a violent civil war in Spain in 1936 when General Franco rebelled against the Second Spanish Republic. Many consider this civil strife as testing battle ground of Second World War, as the fascist powers bombed some Spanish territories. Then another important development of this period was the Great Economic Depression of 1929-1930 that led to the rise of Fascism and Nazism in Europe. World War II involved Eastern Asia and the Pacific, in the form of Japanese aggression against China and the United States. Non combatants and civilians also suffered greatly during this war due to aerial bombing of cities on both sides, and the German genocide of the Jews and others , known as The Holocaust. This time also saw the Russian Revolution in 1917 that ended the Romanov reign and Bolsheviks, under the leadership of Vladimir Lenin set up first communist state of the world. After the involvement of Soviet Russia in World War II communism became a major force in global politics, notably in Eastern Europe, China, Indochina and Cuba, where communist parties gained near absolute power. This period also saw the beginning of Cold War that caused arms race and increasing competition between the two major powers of the world- The USSR and the United States of America. The two world wars led to efforts to increase international cooperation, notably through the founding of League of Nations in 1919 and the United Nations in 1945 after the Second World War. Mahatma Gandhi’s nonviolence and Indian independence movement against the British Empire influenced many political movements around the world , including the civil rights movement in the US and freedom movements in South Africa and Burma. Another significant development was the creation of Israel state in 1948 that ended British mandate in Palestine that sprung a number of regional conflicts. After a long period of civil wars and conflicts with western powers, China’s last imperial dynasty ended in 1912 by The Nationalist Party led by Sun Yat Sen. His government was replaced by another civil war in 1949 that gave rise to Communist People’s Republic of China under the leadership Mao-Tse-Tung. So this was the environment and the developments that were taking place in the contemporary world in which these authors lived and worked.
Before proceeding further it is essential to take a glimpse of literary scenario of the first half of 20th century in which these authors worked. At the dawn of twentieth century H.G. Well’s works aptly titled Anticipations of the Reaction of Mechanical and Scientific Progress upon Human Life and Thought (1901) and A Modern Utopia captured and qualified the optimistic mood that gave expression to a common conviction that science and technology would transform the world in a century ahead. It was felt that to achieve such transformation, outmoded institutions and ideals had to be replaced by ones more suited to the growth and liberation of human spirit. The death of Queen Victoria in 1901 and the accession of Edward VII seemed to confirm that a franker, less inhibited period had begun. Many writers of this era drawing widely upon the realistic and naturalistic conventions of 19th century upon Ibsen in drama and Balzac, Turgenev, Flaubert, Zola , Eliot and Dickens in fiction Oscar Wilde saw their task in the new century to be an unashamedly didactic one. In a series of wittily iconoclastic plays like Man and Superman, published in 1903 and performed in 1905 and Major Barbara performed in 1905 and published in 1907 are the most substantial as the playwright George Bernard Shaw turned the Edwardian theatre into an arena for debate on the key concerns of the day like the question of political organization, the morality of armaments and war, the function of class and of the professions, the validity of the family and of marriage, and the issue of women emancipation. Bernard Shaw was not alone in this crusade as John Galsworthy, another brilliant playwright of the century made use of the theatre in Strife (1909) to explore the conflict between capitalism and labour, and in the play Justice (1910) he lent his support to reform the penal system. Similarly many Edwardian novelists were eager to the shortcomings of English social life. H.G. Wells in his works like Love and Mr. Lewisham, Kipps, Ann Veronica and The History of Mr. Polly captured the frustrations of lower middle class existence. In the same way E.M. Forster in his works like Where Angels Fear to Tread and The Longest Journey portrayed with irony the insensitivity, self repression and philistinism of the English middle classes.
These novelists however wrote more memorably when they allowed themselves a larger perspective. In The Old Wives’ Tale Bennett showed the destructive effects of time on the lives of individuals and communities. Wells showed the ominous consequences of the uncontrolled developments taking place within a British society still relying on the institutions of a long defunct landed aristocracy. Forster in Howards End showed how little the rootless and self important world of contemporary commerce cared for the more rooted world of culture. Most Edwardian novelists like their counterparts in theatre held firmly to their belief that constructive change in some measure could be advanced by their writing. No one captured the sense of an imperial civilization in decline more fully or subtly than the expatriate American novelist Henry James. In his work The Portrait of a Lady he had anatomized the fatal loss of energy of the English ruling class and in The Princess Casamassima he describes more directly the various instabilities that threatened paternalistic rule. Another expatriate novelist Joseph Conrad shares James’s sense of crisis but attributed it less to the decline of a specific civilization than to human failings in his works like Lord Jim, Almayer’s Folly and The Heart of Darkness. According to him man was a solitary, romantic creature of will who at any cost imposed his meaning on the world because he could not endure a world that did not reflect his central place in it.
As one of the author had written in Hindi so it will be appropriate to throw some light on the creation in Hindi, particularly in prose and more particularly in novel. The tradition of writing prose in Hindi began in 19th century with Bhartendu Harishchandra who had authored several dramas, sketches, and travel accounts besides composing poems. His popular works are Andher Nagri ( City of Darkness), Durlabh Bandhu( Rare Person), Teen Prashna (Three Questions). Writing under the pen name Rasa Harishchandra represented the agonies of the people, the country’s poverty, dependency, inhuman exploitation, the unrest of the middle class and the urge for the progress of the country in his plays. He soon became a director, manager, and playwright and he used theatre as a tool to shape public opinion. Another prominent prose writer was Devkinandan Khatri who wrote a historic fantasy fiction named Chandrakanta Santiti. It became so popular that it is believed that many people learnt Hindi to read it. He spent his life inn Varanasi one of the sacred city of Hindus. His major works besides Chandrakanta are Bhootnath, Kajar ki Kothari, Narendra Mohini, Kusum Kumari, and Birendra Beer. Though Rahul Sansritayan has written in Hindi but considering language merely as a medium thematically as he is at par with other two authors Aldous Huxley and George Orwell as he has also projected his view of the future world like them though his view is not as depressing as the image of future world projected by Orwell and Huxley. Rahul Sanskritayan can be considered as contemporary of prominent prose writer in Hindi of twentieth century Premchand who was first President of Pragatisheel Lekhak Sanngh( Progressive Writers’ Union). He had captured the soul of rural India in his works like Godan( The Gift of a Cow). His real name was Dhanpat Rai Srivastava but he took the pen name Premchand. He also lived in Varanasi and composed novels and short stories both in Hindi as well as in Urdu. Besides Godan his other major works are Karambhoomi( Place of Work), Shatranj ke Khilari ( Players of Chess) and Gaban ( Scam). He has been termed as Upanyas Samrat ( Emperor Among the Novelists). Grandson of a Land revenue Official ( Patwari) and son of Post master clerk Premchand developed fascination for fiction at an early age in his childhood. He sought solace in fiction. He took up the job of selling books for a book seller that gave him opportunity to read many books. He learnt English at a missionary school and studied several works of fiction including George Reynold’s eight volume book The Msteries of the Court of London. His first work was composed at Gorakhpur which was never published and thus is lost. It was a farce on a bachelor, who falls in love with a low caste woman. The character was based on Premchand’s uncle , who used to scold him for reading fiction and it was perhaps his sweet revenge against his uncle. He enrolled at Queen’s College Benares after his father was posted to Jamania. After his father’s death in 1897 Premchand due to financial troubles went to sell his books where he met Headmaster of a missionary school at Chunar, who offered him a job as a teacher at the salary of Rs. 18 a month and he also took up the job of tutoring a student at the monthly fee of Rs. 5. In 1900 he secured the job of Assistant Teacher at the Government District school at the monthly salary of Rs.20. Three months later he was transferred to Pratapgarh where he stayed at the residence of the administrator and tutored his son. Premchand is considered as the first Hindi author whose writings prominently featured realism. His novels depict the problems of the poor and the urban middle class. His novels contain a rationalistic outlook, which views religious values as something that allows the powerful hypocrites to exploit the weak. He used literature for the purpose of arousing public awareness about national and social issues and often wrote on the themes related to corruption, child widowhood, prostitution, feudal system. poverty, colonialism and Indian Independence Movement. Author would have loved to include this mighty literary titan for study in this work but considering the theme of this book to be the projection of future world with a very heavy heart author has to stop writing about Premchand at this juncture.
So these were the contemporaries and social and political conditions in which the authors under study lived and worked. This chapter besides giving the basic framework of this work has explored the major political and social events of the first part of the twentieth century that largely influenced the literature of this period. Authors under study in this work must also have been influenced by these events that led them to imagine the future world and that inspired writers to compose utopias and dystopias. Sensing the positive and negative tendencies of science , technology and human nature these authors have tried to predict the world of the future if the contemporary tendencies move on unhindered. Before coming to the actual works in which these authors have predicted their vision of future world let us have a look at the lives of these authors under study in the next chapter.
- End of Chapter 1-
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