SCIENCE AND FICTION IN MODERNIST LITERATURE. THE HUXLEYS
Science and Fiction in Modernist Literature. The Huxleys

Summary/Abstract: The extraordinary development of science and technology in the 19th and 20th centuries led to a changed perspective of the position of man in the world and of the beliefs and values that had shaped the western world. History was taking on a new course and along, a different type of society was emerging, but the direction those changes were leading to, was not clear at all. While religious faith was shaken again after the Enlightenment by the development of scientific reason and rationality, some turned in adulation to science as to a new form of religion. Many scholars, scientists and educators were searching for equilibrium, for a balance between the two apparently irreconcilable enemies, as the only way to have a proper, guided development of scientific discoveries and technological advance checked by a continuous emphasis on the moral principles that should govern society first and foremost. That was the general atmosphere in which a series of prominent figures from the worlds of science and letters were formed and were encouraged to express their views on the future of mankind. Aprestigious example in this respect was Aldous Huxley with his novel Brave New World.

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