"Orwell versus Huxley: Economics, Technology, Privacy, and
Satire"
BY: RICHARD A. POSNER
University of Chicago Law School
Document: Available from the SSRN Electronic Paper Collection:
http://papers.ssrn.com/paper.taf?abstract_id=194572
Other Electronic Document Delivery:
http://www.law.uchicago.edu/Publications/Working/
Paper ID: University of Chicago Law School, John M. Olin Law
& Economics Working Paper No. 89
Date: November 1999
Contact: RICHARD A. POSNER
Email: Mailto:paul_choi at law.uchicago.edu
Postal: University of Chicago Law School
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Fax: (773)702-0730
ABSTRACT:
Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four and Huxley's novel Brave New
World have often been thought prophetic commentaries on
economic, political, and social matters. I argue, with
particular reference to the supposed applicability of these
novels to issues of technology and privacy, that the novels are
best understood as literary works of art, rather than as social
science or commentary, and that when so viewed Orwell's novel in
particular reflects a dissatisfaction with everyday life and a
nostalgia for Romantic values.