Title: Revolutions from the waist downwards: desire as rebellion in Yevgeny Zamyatin's We, George Orwell's 1 !

", and #ldous $u%ley's &rave 'ew World #uthor(s): Thomas $oran *our+e: Extrapolation. "!,- (*ummer -../): 011", 2rom Literature Resource Center, 3o+ument Ty0e: 4riti+al essay 2ull Te%t: 5n her e%+ellent study, 3ysto0ian 2i+tion 6ast and West, 6ri7a Gottlieb suggests that twentieth8 +entury dysto0ian fi+tion is 0artially defined by a terrible and irrevo+able finality: 95t is one of the most +ons0i+uous features of ,,, dysto0ian fi+tion that on+e we allow the totalitarian state to +ome to 0ower, there will be no way ba+79 ("), 5 ta7e issue with this +on+lusion, arguing instead that the ma:or authors of dysto0ian fi+tion 0resent se%ual desire as an as0e+t of the self that +an never be fully a00ro0riated, and therefore as a 0otential for+e for 0oliti+al and s0iritual regeneration from within the totalitarian state, This 0oint is +ommonly made by a se%ual relationshi0 situated at the beginning of the story, whi+h eventually develo0s into a subversive 0oliti+al +ons0ira+y for revolution, Though these se%ual liaisons are usually ill8fated, they suggest that se%ual desire has a 0ro0ulsive ability to 0romote +hange even when the se%ual relationshi0 itself is +urtailed, *e% wor7s as a 0ortal through whi+h the dysto0ian everyman at the +enter of the story glim0ses the idea of both 0oliti+al liberation and a universal human dignity based on a newfound understanding of the sublime, To better denote how se%uality wor7s in the 0arti+ular ty0e of dysto0ian fi+tion with whi+h 5 am +on+erned, 5 have +oined the term 90ro:e+ted 0oliti+al fi+tion9 (1) whi+h refers to dysto0ian (-) stories that are both s0e+ulative and 0oliti+al, #uthors of 0ro:e+ted 0oliti+al fi+tion 0ro:e+t a 0oliti+al system or 0hiloso0hy with whi+h they disagree into a futuristi+ story, *etting their stories in the future allows writers of 0ro:e+ted 0oliti+al fi+tion to e%0lore their immediate 0oliti+al +on+erns on a grander s+ale without a00earing to e%aggerate, Thus, li7e a +oni+al beam of light emanating from a movie 0ro:e+tor, these stories not only rea+h forward through the un+ertain dar7ness to +ast an image of what may lie ahead, they also widen the s+o0e of that image to en+om0ass all as0e+ts of so+ial, 0oliti+al, and e+onomi+ life, in+luding the way in whi+h the members of these 0ro:e+ted so+ieties 0er+eive and understand the 0ast and their own future, ;ro:e+ted 0oliti+al fi+tion is written for one of two not always mutually e%+lusive 0ur0oses: either it serves as a warning to the author's +ontem0oraries to hel0 them avert an im0ending governmental disaster, or it 0redi+ts what the seemingly unavoidable future will loo7 li7e, George Orwell's 1 !" is an obvious e%am0le of the +autionary form of 0ro:e+ted 0oliti+al fi+tion, while #ldous $u%ley's &rave 'ew World is a more 0redi+tive dysto0ia, *in+e the 1! .s, do<ens of novels and stories fitting this 0aradigm have been written, but this 0a0er will +on+entrate on three of the most 0rominent wor7s of this genre: 1 !", &rave 'ew World, and Yevgeny Zamyatin's We, These 0arti+ular boo7s are seminal be+ause their influen+e guided and sha0ed the develo0ment of this genre and +hanged forever the +limate of Western 0oliti+al thought, Through these writings, words and 0hrases li7e 9&ig &rother,9 9two 0lus two e=uals five,9 9al0ha80lus,9 and 9Orwellian,9 along with the +on+e0ts that underlie them, have be+ome a 0art of +ommon vo+abulary, Zamyatin, $u%ley, and Orwell have been lin7ed fre=uently in the 0ast, but mainly through the =uestion of influen+e, Orwell sus0e+ted that &rave 'ew World was ins0ired by We, (1) while others have 0ointed out intriguing similarities between We and 1 !", (") $ere, 5 want to

ma7e a different 7ind of +om0arison by e%0loring how se%ual desire 0rovides an o0ening out of the rigid stru+ture of totalitarianism in the wor7 of all three authors, What +learly defines 0ro:e+ted 0oliti+al fi+tion as its own genre is the way that illi+it se%ual arousal always 0re+edes 0oliti+al awareness within the story, 6a+h 0ro:e+ted 0oliti+al fi+tion is 0lotted around an unlawful eroti+ relationshi0, whi+h may or may not develo0 into love, between two +hara+ters: an orthodo% +hara+ter who either believes in the e%isting 0oliti+al system or has submitted to it without ho0e of deliveran+e, and a subversive, las+ivious radi+al, #s the story 0rogresses, the do+ile +hara+ter is first overwhelmed with lust for the rebellious +hara+ter and then, on+e +onsummation has o++urred, he or she (>) is won over to the ho0e 0rovided by the renegade's hereti+al 0oliti+al 0hiloso0hy, 6ven when, as in &rave 'ew World, no radi+al sedu+tive figure e%ists, forbidden se%ual desire foments in the 0rotagonist a 0oliti+al awareness of its own, *in+e the legally and so+ially 0ermissible method of se%ual +onta+t is different in ea+h 0ro:e+ted 0oliti+al fi+tion, the nature of these sala+ious relationshi0s varies to the 0oint where in some of these stories the eroti+ism de0i+ted would seem tame or even ase%ual by our own +ultural standards, (?) ;i+7ing u0 on a related idea, Gottlieb sees the soli+itous bond of romanti+ love as the determining fa+tor in these novels: 92alling in love with a woman who offers affe+tion, 0assion, or sim0ly an intimate bond is essential to the 0rotagonist's awa7ening to his 0rivate universe, an essential ste0 in building resistan+e against the regime9 (Gottlieb -1), 5t is true that in some +ases, 1 !" for instan+e, a genuine and re+i0ro+al love does eventually develo0 between the re+al+itrant 0air, &ut love always follows, rather than 0re+edes, the se%ual arousal and 0oliti+al awa7ening of the lovers, 5n some 0ro:e+ted 0oliti+al fi+tions, love 0lays a minimal or even antagonisti+ role, 2or e%am0le, @ohn the *avage in &rave 'ew World is mu+h more troubled by the thought, or, to his mind, the sin of wantonly bedding Aenina than by the idea of loving her, Ai7ewise, in Zamyatin's We, 38>.1 loves the &enefa+tor and hates all that 5811. re0resents, When he first dis+overs her seditious intentions, he intends to hand her over to the 0oli+e, &ut his lust for her ma7es him a +o+ons0irator virtually against his will:
Her tone was so impudent, so full of mockery.... I always hated her.... Suddenly her arm crept round my neck, lips touched lips, went deeper, things got even scarier. I swear, this was a total surprise for me, and maybe that's the only reason why. Because I could not have. I now understand this with absolute clarity. I could not possibly have desired what happened next.... I became glass. I saw myself, inside.... I remember I was on the floor hugging her legs, kissing her knees. nd I was begging, !"ow, right now, this minute....! #$amyatin %%&%'(

38>.1's ab:e+t, 0rimal hunger for 5811. is based on animal attra+tion rather than anything as dee0 and so0histi+ated as romanti+ love, &ut though he loves his &enefa+tor and is +ogni<ant of his own guilt throughout the story, years of +ontrol and +onditioning have left him un0re0ared to +o0e with this over0owering lust, The story of 38>.1, li7e that of Winston *mith and @ohn the *avage, indi+ates that the brea7ing of se%ual taboos leads to 0oliti+al u0heaval be+ause whatever else they +an +ontrol, governments88no matter how absolutely 0ervasive88+an never fully regulate the se%ual instin+ts and indis+retions of their +iti<ens, #s Gilles 3eleu<e and 2eli% Guattari insist

in #nti8Oedi0us, even a single instan+e of sensual 0assion is inherently and 0ervasively volatile:
If desire is repressed, it is because every position of desire, no matter how small, is capable of calling into )uestion the established order of a society.... It is explosive.... *esire is revolutionary in its essence.... "o society can tolerate a position of real desire without its structures of exploitation, servitude, and hierarchy being compromised.... Sexuality and love ... cause strange flows to circulate that do not let themselves be stocked within an established order. *esire does not want revolution, it is revolutionary in its own right. #*eleu+e and ,uattari --.(

3eleu<e and Guattari argue that totalitarian institutions are 0erennially haunted by the in+endiary s0e+ter of se%ual desire be+ause desire in:e+ts a volatile wildness into so+ial and 0oliti+al entren+hment, Their +on+e0tion of desire +losely 0arallels what o++urs in 0ro:e+ted 0oliti+al fi+tion, The authors of this 7ind of dysto0ian literature root 0oliti+al insurre+tions in the 0otentially liberating instability indu+ed by se%ual 0assion, 3eleu<e and Guattari ma7e a good 0rima fa+ie +ase, yet other theorists, li7e Bi+hel 2ou+ault, see desire as something that is systemati+ally tamable, (/) Boreover, sin+e 0ro:e+ted 0oliti+al fi+tion is more +ommonly 0rodu+ed by male authors, this idea of liberation through se% also lends itself to a number of disturbing tenden+ies, in+luding a :uvenile attitude toward the female body, a relian+e on se%ist stereoty0es, and, o++asionally, a troubling lin7 between desire for and violen+e toward women, (!) &ut even when the revolution 0romised by illi+it desire fails to be +om0letely un0re:udi+ed, authors of 0ro:e+ted 0oliti+al fi+tion, li7e Zamyatin, $u%ley, and Orwell, trans+end the 0hysi+al to 0resent se%ual desire as a +atalyst for a s0irituality beyond 0oliti+al +hange, #dmittedly, as a so+ialist, Orwell in 0arti+ular +learly believed that human develo0ment needed to move beyond organi<ed religion, but he, li7e $u%ley and Zamyatin, mourned the loss of the sense of universal human dignity that a++om0anied religious faith, #s Winston says to O'&rien in 1 !": 9'There is something in the universe885 don't 7now, some s0irit, some 0rin+i0le88that you will never over+ome,' '3o you believe in God, WinstonC' ''o,' 'Then what is it, this 0rin+i0le that will defeat usC' '5 don't 7now, The s0irit of man,' '#nd do you +onsider yourself a manC' 'Yes'9 (Orwell -/1), Dnder torture, Winston has +learly abandoned the ho0e of overthrowing the ;arty by for+e, violen+e, or any 0oliti+al a+t, &ut even though he reali<es that the humanity will eventually be e%0unged from his heart, mind, and body, he 7nows that some s0iritual +ommon worth may still remain among the living, 5n attem0ting to re+reate the idea of this shared dignity, writers of 0ro:e+ted 0oliti+al fi+tion ty0i+ally rely on @udeo84hristian religious symbols and 0astoral settings, 5t is this egalitarian, =uasi8mysti+al, universal human nature that se%uality awa7ens in 0ro:e+ted 0oliti+al fi+tions, &e+ause every 0erson has this s0iritual s0a+e somewhere dee0 inside him or herself waiting to be unlo+7ed by desire, these dysto0i+ governments must be +ommitted to the +oloni<ation of the se%ual instin+t right down to the last individual, ( ) 5n defining the s+o0e of 0ro:e+ted 0oliti+al fi+tion and in delineating its main +hara+teristi+s, 5 first dis+uss We, followed by 1 !", and finally &rave 'ew World, By de+ision not to e%amine Zamyatin and $u%ley's wor7 in tandem may stri7e the reader as odd, not only be+ause these

novels were both 0ublished and widely read years before 1 !" was even written, but also be+ause there are enough shared similarities to invite a +lose +om0arison, &oth We and &rave 'ew World foresee a 0ain8free future in whi+h the government +ontrols humans by satiating rather than re0ressing their desires, #s $erbert Bar+use e%0lains in One83imensional Ban, this sort of e+onomi+ and so+ial totalitarianism is :ust as insidiously effe+tive as the overtly re0ressive variety:
/or !totalitarianism! is not only a terroristic political coordination of society, but also a non&terroristic economic technical coordination which operates through the manipulation of needs by vested interests. It thus precludes the emergence of an effective opposition against the whole. "ot only a specific form of government or party rule makes for totalitarianism, but also a specific system of production and distribution. #0arcuse 1(

5n &rave 'ew World es0e+ially, su+h a system of 0rodu+tion and distribution determines the dire+tion of so+iety rather than the will of some des0ot or grou0 of o00ressors, 5n both boo7s, se% too is +ommodified in this way, ;eo0le en:oy se% for 0leasure on a regular basis and have a right of se%ual a++ess to anyone they desire, To 0revent +hildbirths not +alled for by the system of 0rodu+tion, se% for 0ro+reative 0ur0oses is forbidden and unli7ely due to +onditioned birth +ontrol 0ro+edures, #ny 0oliti+al investment in se%ual re0rodu+tion is 0re+luded by the state's farming and +olle+tive rearing of +hildren in lieu of the nu+lear family, 5n this way, the +urren+y of desire is +hea0ened within the e+onomy of the libido, ;roviding 0eo0le with an endless variety of 0artners undermines dangerous 0assions for 0arti+ular individuals before they +an ta7e root, The 0oliti+al im0li+ations of im0assioned +onne+tions between individuals are 0revented by the redu+tion of se% from the +ulmination of a desire for a 0arti+ular 0erson, to a +ommon series of routine orgasms with an endless stream of fa+eless 0artners, What is missing in this gilded world is lust, the vis+eral +hemistry of desiring a 0hysi+al union with a 0arti+ular 0erson for no e%0lainable reason, Aust threatens the establishment be+ause every dysto0ian world is built on +old, methodi+al logi+, and lust is fundamentally illogi+al, Though inter+ourse and other se%ual a+ts remain, in 0ro:e+ted 0oliti+al fi+tions, humanity has lost the irrational, ineffable 0assion to fu+7, 'onetheless, des0ite a shared use of se%ual 0assion and other 0arallels, $u%ley and Zamyatin are fundamentally different be+ause $u%ley is far more 0essimisti+ about the future of our ra+e, While there is enough room for 0oliti+al dissent in We to allow for a full8blown mass revolution to o++ur at the end of the novel, in &rave 'ew World individuality has been so su++essfully undermined that, li7e an inse+t +olony, 0eo0le are mere 0rogrammed +ells within a larger unified networ7, 5n 7ee0ing with this dis+re0an+y, my fo+us shifts as the 0a0er 0rogresses from the least to the most re0ressive e%am0les of 0ro:e+ted 0oliti+al fi+tion, Boving from We to 1 !" to &rave 'ew World, the s+enario be+omes 0rogressively more ho0eless, while the im0ortan+e of se%uality in generating a shift from the idea of 0oliti+al +hange to the ho0e of s0iritual deliveran+e be+omes in+reasingly +riti+al, Ai7e its better87nown des+endent &rave 'ew World, Yevgeny Zamyatin's We de0i+ts a sterile, +omfortable, 0lasti+ world e%isting ?.. years in the future in whi+h individuality has been almost +om0letely eradi+ated, #ll of the a+tion in the novel is +onfined to a single +ity se0arated by a

glass wall from the surrounding wilderness, The government of One*tate is 0remised on the belief that ha00iness and freedom are at odds with one another and thus freedom must be sa+rifi+ed for the sa7e of ha00iness, The One*taters' understanding of the bibli+al story of #dam and 6ve bears this out: 9Those two in ;aradise, they were offered a +hoi+e: ha00iness without freedom, or freedom without ha00iness, nothing else, Those idiots +hose freedom, #nd ,,, for +enturies they were homesi+7 for their +hains9 (Zamyatin ?1), The deity of this futuristi+ 6den is a su0erhuman di+tator +alled the &enefa+tor who has been unanimously reele+ted for "! +onse+utive years (Zamyatin 1"-), The vi+torious few who trium0hed in the -.. Years War that gave birth to One*tate +onditioned younger generations to thin7 and behave as they did, &ut in the 0ro+ess, individuality was lost and humanity be+ame :ust a se=uen+e of uniformed 9'umbers,9 &elieving that this se=uen+e +ontains the se+ret to a 0rodu+tive and ha00y life, the +iti<ens of One*tate, by order of the &enefa+tor, are engaged in the +onstru+tion of a s0a+e+raft +alled the 5ntegral with whi+h they ho0e to im0ose their way of life on the inhabitants of other 0lanets, $aving totally sub:ugated the 0eo0le of 6arth, the &enefa+tor see7s to e%tend his em0ire dee0 into the solar system and beyond, #nd his most loyal sub:e+t is the narrator of the story and designer of the 5ntegral, 38>.1, #s with @ohn the *avage in &rave 'ew World and Winston *mith in 1 !", 38>.1's se%ual 0assion awa7ens his revolutionary im0ulses, The ob:e+t of his forbidden monogamous desire is 58 11., the leader of an e%tensive underground movement wor7ing to subvert the &enefa+tor's reign, 5811. 0roselyti<es with her nubile body rather than verbal or written 0ro0aganda, 5n the first moment they share alone, 5811. reiterates the 0ro0aganda of One*tate while +hanging from her government8issued uniform into a tight evening dress, 38>.1 is thus im0li+itly offered a +hoi+e between the orthodo%y he has always 7nown and the sweetness of her flesh:
2he dress was of very thin silk&&I could clearly see that the stockings were long and came way above her knees. nd the neck was cut very low..... !It's clear,! she broke in, !that to be original means to distinguish yourself from others. It follows that to be original is to violate the principal of e)uality. nd what the ancients called, in their idiotic language, 'being banal' is what we call '3ust doing your duty.'! ... I remember how I was trembling all over. I should have ... I don't know ... grabbed her. #$amyatin 14(

5t is 38>.1's obsession with 5811., an almost sto+7 femme fatale, and not 0oliti+al +ons+iousness, whi+h binds him to her +ause, eventually bringing him to the 0oint where though he believes that he is doing evil in 0romoting the revolution, he resigns himself to it for the sa7e of his lust, 9There was no saving me, not any longer, 5 did not want to be saved9 (Zamyatin 1/ , em0hasis in original), *e%ual desire has de0rogrammed 38>.1 essentially against his will, #s in &rave 'ew World, the government of One*tate re+ogni<es that monogamy +an undermine the state by introdu+ing a +om0eting familial loyalty, while se%ual de0rivation +an indu+e volatile :ealousy, The Ae% *e%ualis, or se%ual law of One*tate, therefore states that 9any 'umber has the right of a++ess to any other 'umber as se%ual 0rodu+t9 (Zamyatin --), 2urthermore, the number of wee7ly hours in whi+h a 'umber +an legally have se% +orres0onds to his or her 0hysiologi+al a00etite: 9They give you a +areful going8over in the *e%ual &ureau labs and determine the e%a+t

+ontent of the se%ual hormones in your blood and wor7 out your +orre+t Table of *e% 3ays, Then you fill out a de+laration that on your days you'd li7e to ma7e use of 'umber (or 'umbers) so8 and8so and they hand you the +orres0onding boo7 of ti+7ets9 (Zamyatin --), (1.) &e+ause se% is always so freely and readily available at 0re+isely the right time, it is +om0letely desublimated and thus both harmless to the government and meaningless to +iti<ens, #ny dangerous se%ual energy that lingers when the allotted se% ti+7ets have been s0ent is dissi0ated through a 0unitive, rituali<ed 0ubli+ sa+rifi+e 7nown as the @usti+e Gala, whi+h loosely resembles 9The Two Binutes $ate9 in 1 !" and the orgy80orgy at the end of &rave 'ew World, Whenever a 'umber brea7s the law, he or she is melted into smo7e and water before the entire +ity 0o0ulation by a devi+e 7nown as the &enefa+tor's Ba+hine, One fun+tion of this s0e+ta+le is to +ow the 'umbers into obedien+e, 5t also serves to deify, and thus further em0ower, the &enefa+tor while reinfor+ing the 0hiloso0hi+al 0remise on whi+h his government rests: the needs of the individual must often be sa+rifi+ed for the benefit of the many: 9When we sa+rifi+e to our God, One*tate, we ma7e a +alm, rational, +arefully +onsidered sa+rifi+e ,,, the magnifi+ent vi+tory of all over one, of the whole over the 0art9 (Zamyatin ">), &ut most signifi+antly, the @usti+e Gala brings vi+arious se%ual satisfa+tion to the viewer as the &enefa+tor's rigid hand, an unmista7ably 0halli+ symbol, 0resses down on the lever and dis+harges a 0enetrating blast into the su0ine, sa+rifi+ial re+eiver: 9The stone hand of the &enefa+tor, the unbearable blade of light, and u0 there on the 4ube, the s0read8eagled body with the head thrown ba+7, 5 shuddered9 (Zamyatin >"), ;ubli+ e%e+utions in One*tate ta0 into and release se%ual tension through the s0e+ta+le of +ruelty, The domination at the +ore of a se%ual e+onomy based on state8issued ti+7ets is glaringly revealed through e%e+utions that resemble ra0es, This elaborate system for aligning se% to state 0ower 0roves in+a0able of +ontaining 38>.1's forbidden se%ual desire, $e be+omes obsessed with be+oming 5811.'s sole se%ual 0artner, and O8 ., a former 0artner of 38>.1, u0on re+ogni<ing his love for 5811., be+omes e=ually obsessed with having 38>.1's baby, whi+h is of +ourse a +a0ital offense (Zamyatin 1.-81), These +hara+ters ignore their so+iety's moral law and the fear of e%e+ution solely for se%ual reasons, When o0en revolution does brea7 out at the end of the novel, +ivil disobedien+e is 0resented in se%ual terms: 95n several buildings 5 +ould see through the glass walls ,,, that male and female 'umbers were +o0ulating without the least shame, without even lowering the blinds, without so mu+h as a ti+7et, in broad daylight9 (Zamyatin -1-), The government's res0onse to the rebellion is a 0ubli+ announ+ement that the 0o0ulation is suffering from a disease +alled 95magination,9 The &enefa+tor is +orre+t in reali<ing that the human +a0a+ity to imagine allows for the lin7 between the organi+ a+t of se%ual inter+ourse and the sublime realm of as0irations, # surgi+al 0ro+edure to disable the offending 0ortion of the brain res0onsible for imagination be+omes legally re=uired of all 'umbers, whether loyal to the &enefa+tor or not, by a s0e+ified day, The novel ends with the strong suggestion that everyone in the whole of One*tate will soon be turned into a 9human tra+tor9 (Zamyatin 1!-) by this insidious 0ro+edure, $uman7ind's loss of imagination, the one attribute that +learly se0arates man from ma+hine, would seem to signal the end of history, &ut through a theologi+al motif whi+h also develo0s in &rave 'ew World, ho0e for humanity is 0reserved through the im0lied 0romise

of a messiah, The &enefa+tor, as Ri+hard #, Gregg argues in his essay, 9Two #dams and 6ve in the 4rystal ;ala+e,9 is li7ened to the +old, vengeful @ehovah of the Old Testament: 9the new @ehovah, as wise and +ruel in his love as the @ehovah of the an+ients9 (Zamyatin 11>), 5811., on the other hand, is de0i+ted as a sort of 0agan 4hrist figure, emblemati+ not of evil but of rebellion against a seemingly omni0otent for+e, $er s0ee+h to the rebels outside the +ity wall +losely resembles the moment in a 4atholi+ Bass where the wine is +onse+rated and the blood of 4hrist +onsumed: 9*he has a +u0 in her hands, a wooden +u0,,,, *he drin7s from it with her red li0s and hands it to me and 5 shut my eyes and drin7 ,,, greedily ,,, sweet, stinging, +old s0ar7s9 (Zamyatin 1>1), 58 11. is also standing on a s7ull8sha0ed ro+7 whi+h re+alls the 0assion at Golgotha, whi+h means 9the 0la+e of the s7ull9: 9a na7ed stone that loo7ed li7e a human s7ull9 (Zamyatin 1" ), @ust as 4hrist resists the tem0tation to flee to safety when he 0rays in the garden in the hours before his +a0ture, so too does 5811. refuse 38>.1's offer to es+a0e into the de0ths of the forest, 9'5811., darling, before it's too late,,,, We'll go together, over there, beyond the Wall',,,, *he shoo7 her head9 (Zamyatin 1>/), 5811. is also asso+iated with 4hrist through a dar7 +ross whi+h a00ears whenever her brow tenses: 95 say nothing but merely loo7 at her fa+e: The dar7 +ross on it is now es0e+ially vivid9 (Zamyatin 1>/), Though 5811., li7e @esus, is eventually tortured and e%e+uted, the 0romise of a se+ond +oming +ontinues with 38>.1's unborn baby, whi+h the 0regnant O8 . +arries in her when she es+a0es from the +ity with 5811.'s hel0, 9*o 5 (5811.) sent her (O8 .),,,, *he's there already, on the other side of the Wall, *he's going to live9 (Zamyatin 1 "), Whatever ha00ens to 38>.1, the +hild he +on+eived with O8 . is beyond the gras0 of the &enefa+tor's regime and is therefore a 0otential revolutionary leader for the future, The two women who ma7e this messiani+ +hild 0ossible, 5811. and O8 ., are really se0arate halves of the same +om0lete woman, 5n her essay 9The Golden 4ountry,9 6laine $offman &aru+h argues this very 0oint: 9Ai7e mu+h of Western +ulture before him, he (38>.1) s0lits the se%ual ob:e+t, and has two lovers: O8 . and 5811.9 (>-), &aru+h sees O8 . as a re0resentative of the traditional submissive leading lady with strong maternal instin+ts, whereas the daring, sedu+tive 5811. 9+omes from the femme fatale tradition of dangerous and alluring sor+eresses9 (&aru+h >-), Though the roles they fit feel ha+7neyed and ina++urate, ta7en together these two +hara+ters serve as both the greatest threat to 0oliti+al stability and the surest gateway to the ho0e of =uasi8 mysti+al redem0tion, Ai7e @ulia in 1 !" and Ainda in &rave 'ew World, they embody the stereoty0i+al +ontrast between the male and female body, with the male body re0resenting a +ontrolled, rational, ordered environment while the female body refle+ts a mysterious, ungovernable, 0otentially dangerous s0a+e, offering always the 0ossibility of u0heaval and renewal, but in a marginally +rude and dehumani<ing way, 5811.'s 0romis+uity, for whi+h she eventually 0ays with her life, brings subversive insight: 95 (38>.1) :um0ed u0, 'This is unthin7ableE 5t's stu0idE,,, Our revolution was the final one',,,, $er brows ma7e a shar0 mo+7ing triangle: 'By dear, you are a mathemati+ian,,,, Tell me the final number',,,, '&ut 5811. ,,, sin+e the number of numbers is infinite, how +an there be a final oneC' '#nd how +an there be a final revolutionC'9 (Zamyatin 1?!), Though the triangle on her brow re+alls the 4hristian Trinity (11), 5811. is mostly asso+iated with the ungovernable through her +lose asso+iation with Au+ifer, The rebels who follow her +all themselves the 9Be0hi,9 whi+h, as Fasa 3, Bihailovi+h 0osits in 94riti+s on 6vgeny Zamyatin,9 is undoubtedly a shortened version of Be0histo0heles, the demon

from Goethe's 2aust (11-), #nd the +arving of a fallen angel on the s7ull sha0ed ro+7 where the insurgents +ongregate bears this out, 9'ow 5 see the huge, familiar letters on the stone 'Be0hi',,,, 5 see a +rude drawing of a winged youth with a trans0arent body and instead of a heart he has a glowing +oal, blindingly +rimson9 (Zamyatin 1>181>-), #s the first revolutionary and a +lear underdog at that, the world's first fallen angel has be+ome a hero to the human +ommunity beyond the wall of +ivili<ation, 5811. later +onfirms that Be0hi is indeed the name of the winged youth, and that the name is of an+ient origin: 9'Be0hiC 5t's an old name, Be0hi is one who ,,, you remember, there on the stone, there was an image of a youth'9 (Zamyatin 1>!81> ), &ut though 58 11.'s insurgents are +learly asso+iated with the rebel angels, this novel should not be mis+onstrued as *atani+ or evil in a moral sense, ;atri+7 #, B+4arthy wisely 0oints out in his essay, 9Zamyatin and the 'ightmare of Te+hnology,9 that Zamyatin wanted the Be0hi to emulate the un+om0romising resistan+e to +olle+tivism re0resented by Bilton's *atan: 92or Zamyatin, the true writer must be a hereti+ and revolutionary +onstantly in revolt ,,, against the dead alive 0eo0le who are li7e ma+hines ,,, GhavingH a 2aust's eternal dissatisfa+tion with the 0resent and the attainable9 (1--), Zamyatin seemed to view organi<ed religion as a system begetting +onformity and subordination to an omni0otent su0reme order and therefore as something to be resisted, even against im0ossible odds, The &enefa+tor's s0ee+h to 38>.1 suggests as mu+h: 9'# true algebrai+ love of man7ind will inevitably be inhuman, and the inevitable sign of the truth is its +ruelty,,,, G;eo0leH want someone to tell them, on+e and for all, what ha00iness is88and then bind them to that ha00iness with a +hain ,,, angels, the slaves of God'9 (Zamyatin -.?8-./), Dnli7e Orwell, Zamyatin doesn't 0romise that revolution +an ma7e 0eo0le ha00ier or im0rove their standard of livingI by giving them the ability to freely +hoose unha00iness, revolution will restore their humanity, Zamyatin's theology is the worshi0 of the individual s0irit that, against in+redible odds, survives beyond the +ity walls, $is story is the most ho0eful of the novels in this study, be+ause a si<able rebellion is still underway on the final 0age, a +ommunity of free 0eo0le e%ists in the wilderness, and a li7ely messiah grows in the belly of O8 ., This margin of ho0e steadily narrows in the 0rogression from We, where mass rebellion is 0ossible, to 1 !", where individual rebellion is 0ossible, to &rave 'ew World, where even the +on+e0t of resistan+e is virtually im0ossible, Dnli7e We and &rave 'ew World, Orwell's novel is not +on+erned with the +hoi+e between ha00iness and freedom, The =uestion of what man7ind wants, needs, or deserves is irrelevant to the members of the ruling 0arty in 1 !"I all they +are about is 0reserving and in+reasing their own 0ower, #s O'&rien, a member of the ruling 5nner ;arty, tells Winston: 9The 0arty see7s 0ower entirely for its own sa7e, ;ower is not a meansI it is an end9 (Orwell -??), 2urtheran+e of this end is a+hieved through o00ression and de0rivation, but more im0ortantly, through a 7een understanding and mani0ulation of the +lass system, a system whi+h Orwell sees as endemi+ to human nature and not a so+ial +onstru+t, Through the 0utatively subversive 9&oo79 that elu+idates the wor7ings of the 5'G*O4 (1-) government, Orwell asserts that sin+e the earliest settlements, humans have always divided themselves into +lasses: 9The essential stru+ture of so+iety has never altered, 6ven after enormous u0heavals ,,, the same 0attern has always reasserted itself9 (Orwell 1!>), Orwell also re+ogni<es that the seeds that 0rodu+e enormous u0heavals are always sown in the middle +lass be+ause they

are the only members of so+iety with the 0ers0e+tive and in+entive to +onne+t small grievan+es to larger 0oliti+al issues, The middle +lass are by nature 0ositioned to 7now and, at times, feel the frustrations of the wor7ers, while they +an :ust nearly taste the into%i+ating 0er7s that +ome with being rulers, These im0ulses, 0lus their edu+ation and finan+ial means, ma7e them the only ones +a0able of organi<ing large8s+ale u0risings:
/or long periods the High seem to be securely in power, but sooner or later ... they lose their belief in themselves, or their capacity to govern efficiently, or both. 2hey are then overthrown by the 0iddle, who enlist the 5ow on their side by pretending to them that they are fighting for liberty and 3ustice. s soon as they have reached their ob3ective, the 0iddle thrust the 5ow back into their old position ... and ... become the High. 6resently a new 0iddle group splits off from one of the other groups, or from both of them, and the struggle begins over again. #7rwell 841(

*in+e the disaffe+ted 9Biddle9 is always the sour+e of revolution, Orwell situates the illi+it se%ual relationshi0 at the heart of 1 !" within the middle8+lass Outer ;arty, &y having the state fo+us so mu+h time and attention on a single doomed roman+e between two middle8+lass lovers, Orwell demonstrates how an effi+ient regime +an forget the 0roletariat, or88as they are +alled in this novel880roles, (11) and +on+ern itself solely with monitoring, isolating, and disem0owering the 0otentially dangerous middle +lass, whi+h re0resents the only real threat to the state's authority, ;reservation of this order rests largely on governmental +ontrol of the se% lives of the members of the middle +lass, *e%, li7e everything else, is monitored through the teles+reen, a des+endent of the television that doubles as a video +amera, *e% is only legal for 0ro+reative 0ur0oses and is otherwise a +a0ital offense: 9*e%+rime +overed all se%ual misdeeds ,,, forni+ation, adultery, homose%uality ,,, normal inter+ourse 0ra+ti+ed for its own sa7e ,,, all e=ually +ul0able, and ,,, 0unishable by death9 (Orwell 1. ), &ut the ;arty is not so naive as to thin7 that by 0reventing se% it +an 0revent desire, The energy generated by lust, love, envy, 0erversion, and other dangerous 0assions is redire+ted into +atharti+ rituals of adoration for &ig &rother, O+eania's 0utative absolute ruler: (1") 9There was a dire+t, intimate +onne+tion between +hastity and 0oliti+al orthodo%y, 2or how +ould the fear, hatred, and the lunati+ +redulity whi+h the ;arty needed in its members be 7e0t at the right 0it+h e%+e0t by bottling down some 0owerful instin+t and using it as a driving for+eC9 (Orwell 11"), #s &lu Tirohl argues in his essay 9We are the dead ,,, you are the dead: #n 6%amination of *e%uality as a Wea0on of Revolt in 'ineteen 6ighty82our,9 the 0owerful human instin+t whi+h the 0arty ta0s into for fuel is se%ual desire: 9The ;arty, it seems, rea00ro0riates se%ual energy for its own needs, #s desire, or urge, would diminish after se%ual inter+ourse the ;arty attem0ts to sustain in its members a state that 0ermanently anti+i0ates 0leasure and then +hannels that energy for its own 0ur0oses9 (>>8>?), ;assion is mor0hed into 0atriotism, To this end, rallies, mar+hes, 0ubli+ e%e+utions, gratuitously violent newsreels, and +arefully +ontained, lo+ali<ed, intensive riots 7nown as Two Binutes $ate are em0loyed to +hannel 0rimal tenden+ies toward hatred of 0ubli+ s+a0egoats and love for &ig &rother, Winston +olle+tively refers to these a+tivities and institutions as 9the great orgasm9 (Orwell 1!.), while @ulia sim0ly +alls them 9se% gone sour9 (Orwell 11"), Bisdire+ted se% is the energy on whi+h 0ro0aganda and 0rodu+tion de0end,

&ut, as with the other boo7s in this study, Orwell asserts that as mu+h as totalitarian regimes need to +ontrol the flow of desire, they +an never do so absolutely, *e%ual hunger always reemerges as the +atalyst for rebellious tenden+ies, @enny Taylor 0oints out in her essay 93esire is Thought+rime,9 that as with We, a se%ual relationshi0 is at the +ore of this novel, 95t is the very +entrality of the relationshi0 between se%ual and 0oliti+al re0ression in 1 !" that ma7es the novel seem so re+ogni<able today,,,, 5ts 0lot is almost identi+al to ,,, We ,,, a futuristi+ dysto0ia in whi+h the hero 38>.1 is moved by desire to 0oliti+al rebellion by the Other886811. Gsi+H88though he finally betrays her9 (-?), Taylor's +laims about the 0lot similarities between We and 1 !" are e%aggerated, but she is right about the +entral im0ortan+e of desire in both novels, 5 would argue that li7e the relationshi0 between 38>.1 and 5811., the se%ual relationshi0 in 1 !" is again between an essentially orthodo%, re0ressed +hara+ter (Winston *mith) and a radi+al sedu+tress (@ulia), #dmittedly, +alling Winston *mith orthodo% is 0roblemati+ sin+e he abhors &ig &rother and disbelieves in the 0rin+i0les of 5'G*O4, &ut at the beginning of the novel, he re0resents no real threat to the ;arty be+ause he feels hel0less and has +om0letely resigned himself to the idea that resistan+e is futile, 9Whether he wrote 3OW' W5T$ &5G &ROT$6R, or whether he refrained from writing it, made no differen+e,,,, The Thought ;oli+e would get him :ust the same9 (Orwell -.), @ulia, on the other hand, firmly believes that she +an get away with her subversive behavior and find ha00iness, not only for herself, but also for Winston, Tirohl rightly 0oints out that though we first see @ulia from the 0ers0e+tive of Winston's frustrated desire, it is she, li7e 5811., who ta7es the initiative to laun+h their se%ual relationshi0:
9ulia's seduction #it is she who makes the first move and subse)uent liaison arrangements( of :inston serves three functions for him. /irstly, she provides an outlet for his sexual needs.... Secondly, she demonstrates a failure in the 6arty to control her sexuality, since she adores intercourse and anything which corrupts 2he 6arty inspires :inston. 2hirdly, she offers :inston loyalty and the message that he is not alone in his thoughts. #%;(

These are e%+ellent observations, but Tirohl +ould e%tend his analysis even further, The satisfa+tion of Winston's lust does more than 0rovide him with a +om0anion for his bed and thoughts88it transforms him from a restless defeatist into a willing soldier for the &rotherhood, The satisfa+tion of an eroti+ fantasy begets a 0ragmati+ o0timism: 9'5n this game that we're 0laying, we +an't win,' *he would always +ontradi+t him when he said anything of this 7ind, *he would not a++e0t it as a law of nature that the individual is always defeated,,,, *he believed it was somehow 0ossible to +onstru+t a se+ret world in whi+h you +ould live as you +hose,,,, 'We are the dead,' he said, 'We're not dead yet,' said @ulia 0rosai+ally'9 (Orwell 11?811/), &oth +hara+ters, of +ourse, reali<e that organi<ing an o0en rebellion is im0ossible, but while Winston dwells on the futility of overt resistan+e, @ulia, 0erha0s naively, believes that they +an beat the ;arty at its own game behind mas7s of seeming loyalty, #s a se%ual +reature, @ulia's rebellion +enters on subverting the ;arty's un+om0romising +ode of se%ual +ondu+t,
:ith 9ulia, everything came back to her own sexuality.... She had

grasped the inner meaning of the 6arty's puritanism. It was not merely that the sex instinct created a world of its own which was outside the 6arty's control and which therefore had to be destroyed, if possible. :hat was more important was that sexual privation induced hysteria, which was desirable because it could be transformed into war fever and leader worship. #7rwell -1<(

5t is e%+lusively through her 0romis+uity that @ulia see7s to both satiate herself and enervate the ;arty, 6a+h orgasm she en:oys si0hons away energy that would otherwise be s0ent buttressing &ig &rother and the state 0oli+ies he re0resents, *he is a revolutionary, but, as Winston says, a revolutionary only 9from the waist downward9 (1>) (Orwell 1>/), Ai7e 5811., @ulia draws men first to her body and then to her beliefs, *he admits to Winston that she has had 9s+ores9 of lovers before him and that they were all ;arty members (Orwell 1-?), #t the beginning of the novel, Winston a++e0ts that he will never have the +han+e to bed @ulia in the same way that he a++e0ts that a+hieving regime +hange is im0ossible, $is thoughts regarding @ulia are a mi%ture of frustrated lust and libidinal rage: 9Fivid, beautiful hallu+inations flashed through his mind,,,, $e would tire her na7ed to a sta7e and shoot her full of arrows li7e *aint *ebastian, $e would ravish her and +ut her throat at the moment of +lima%,,,, $e hated her be+ause ,,, he wanted to go to bed with her and would never do so9 (Orwell 1?), These lurid thoughts, however, give way to dreams of +onsensual se% as Winston begins to re+ogni<e the revolutionary 0otential and signifi+an+e of @ulia's body, $is fantasies about her begin to be set in the Golden 4ountry, an imagined, 0astoral uto0ia reminis+ent of the forest beyond the Green Wall in We:
2he girl with the dark hair was coming toward him across the field. :hat overwhelmed him in that instant was admiration for the gesture with which she had thrown her clothes aside. :ith its grace and carelessness it seemed to annihilate a whole culture, a whole system of thought, as though Big Brother and the 6arty and the 2hought 6olice could all be swept into nothingness. #7rwell 18(

@ulia's e%0osed sensuality +hannels Winston's futile disaffe+tion into im0assioned ho0e, &y tearing off her 0arty uniform, she not only frees her body for 0enetration, she rends the fabri+ of +ultural re0ression that binds the ;arty together, @ulia's denuded sweetness offers more than a 0rivate 0aradise beyond the gras0 of the Thought ;oli+e, it 0romises the obliteration of 5'G*O4, When Winston and @ulia eventually do rea+h +oitus, they e%0erien+e it as an a+t of violent rebellion, 9Their embra+e had been a battle, the +lima% a vi+tory, 5t was a blow stru+7 against the ;arty, 5t was a 0oliti+al a+t9 (Orwell 1-!), The 0roblem with Orwell's de0i+tion of @ulia is that it refle+ts a disa00ointingly immature and +hara+teristi+ally male attitude toward women, Ai7e &o 3ere7 running on the bea+h in a swimsuit, the image of @ulia trotting through the Golden 4ountry is not that of a liberated woman, but of a woman liberated for men, Yet as Tirohl 0oints out, Orwell's views of women and se% may have been a 0rodu+t of his 6dwardian u0bringing:
7rwell tends to reveal a restrictive view of women's sexuality, intellectual capacity and political conscience.... =et, in all other descriptions of life in irstrip 7ne, 7rwell is so precise, so thorough, so insightful and so predicative of technological evolution. It seems unlikely he could have been simply careless in his

description of the sexual revolt undertaken by :inston and 9ulia and more probable that his restricted experience of women limited his ability to offer a rounded description of them on the printed page. #2irohl .-(

This 0ers0e+tive, shared to a lesser e%tent by Zamyatin and $u%ley, 0robably stems from notions of female se%uality that these writers develo0ed as boys at +old8shower boarding s+hools, The e%0erien+e of attending a 0ubli+ s+hool +learly hel0ed Orwell to +a0ture with +hilling authenti+ity the sense of re0ression, hel0lessness, and an%ious worry that +hara+teri<es both s+hool and dysto0ian life, $owever for a female reader es0e+ially, it must be troubling to see women +ou+hed in su+h blandly 0redi+table and a00arently se%ist terms, 5n Orwell's defense, remember that he, li7e Zamyatin and $u%ley, wrote to thin7 about and a+tively bring about the liberation of the individual, not to 0ortray women as a means to an end, $owever limited their initial o0inions may be, the men in 0ro:e+ted 0oliti+al fi+tions be+ome 0oliti+ally and s0iritually li7e the women they are atta+hed to, instead of molding women to be+ome li7e themselves, as o++urs, for e%am0le, in the fi+tion of 3,$, Aawren+e, Boreover, sin+e all of these so+ieties need to regenerate, it is diffi+ult to tal7 of any 7ind of re:uvenating relationshi0 other than the traditional se%ual one, be+ause it alone affords the 0ossibility of natural 0ro+reation, 5n short, these stories are obsessed with the female body be+ause it is where new life always begins, 4ertainly, the relationshi0 with @ulia is a starting 0oint for Winston, Rather than +ontinuing to believe that he will be inevitably found out and li=uidated, Winston begins to believe that he and @ulia +an share a future together, whi+h +ataly<es a +om0lete +hange in Winston's lifestyle: 9The 0ro+ess of life had +eased to be intolerable ,,, now that they had a se+ure hiding 0la+e, almost a home9 (Orwell 1>1), This newfound o0timism also leads Winston to avoid ta7ing unne+essary ris7s, as he had on+e routinely done, so that he will not attra+t or 0rovo7e the Thought ;oli+e, Winston ado0ts @ulia's +onvi+tion that they +an +arry on their affair undete+ted for an indefinite 0eriod, 9#t the sight of the words 5 love you (1?) the desire to stay alive had welled u0 in him, and the ta7ing of minor ris7s suddenly seemed stu0id9 (Orwell 111, em0hasis in original), 6ventually, Winston imagines a whole networ7 of illi+it se%ual affairs whi+h he ho0es +an germinate into a+tual 0o+7ets of 0oliti+al resistan+e, 95 don't imagine we +an alter anything in our own lifetime, &ut one +an imagine little 7nots of resistan+e s0ringing u0 here and there88small grou0s of 0eo0le banding together, and gradually growing, and even leaving a few re+ords behind, so that the ne%t generation +an +arry on where we leave off9 (Orwell 1>?), These dreams of organi<ed resistan+e are of +ourse unrealisti+, but they demonstrate how se% has +hanged Winston from a ha0less vi+tim of fear and 0ro0aganda into a daring revolutionary, ins0iring him to o0enly +onfront O'&rien about the &rotherhood and thus unwittingly hasten his own arrest and in+ar+eration, 'ot sur0risingly, :ust as it brought about the liberation of Winston's s0irit, se% is the medium through whi+h the ;arty reasserts its ana+onda8li7e gri0 on Winston's soul, Though Winston suffers inelu+table 0hysi+al torture at the hands of O'&rien, he res0onds with overwhelming feelings of desire, 9$e o0ened his eyes and loo7ed u0 gratefully at O'&rien ,,, his heart seemed to turn8over, 5f he +ould have moved he would have stret+hed out a hand and laid it on O'&rien's

arm, $e had never loved him so dee0ly9 (Orwell ->>), This se%ual e%0erien+e, however, is a shared 0leasure and trans0ires within a s0a+e 7nown as The Binistry of Aove, Ai7e Zamyatin's &enefa+tor with his 0halli+ ma+hine, O'&rien's bedroom voi+e is des+ribed as 9dreamy9 (Orwell -> ) as he e%0lains his sadisti+ 0lans to Winston and dis0enses ele+tri+ sho+7s, #s Winston, stra00ed to a table, writhes in bliss and agony, O'&rien beams with a 9satisfied air9 (Orwell -?-) and even seems, at times, faintly on the verge of laughter: 9There was a tra+e of amusement in O'&rien's fa+e9 (Orwell -?1), The fetishisti+ relationshi0 between Winston and O'&rien be+omes an inversion of Winston's former affe+tion for @ulia, Whereas the radi+al @ulia made a revolutionary out of the do+ile Winston through her nubile figure, the *talinisti+ O'&rien relo+ates orthodo%y in Winston's heart through the eroti+ 0ower of torture, 9We shall s=uee<e you em0ty, and we shall fill you with ourselves9 (Orwell -?.), Ai7e a yielding body being filled with semen, Winston's bro7en +ar+ass is filled with the a+hromati<ing dogma of the 0arty, 5t is at this 0oint that the novel ta7es on a +olonial dimensionI whereas traditionally +ontested areas of the body in+lude the mind, the hands, and the genitals, in 1 !" the o00ortunity e%ists to +oloni<e the entire self, li=uidating the innate identity and re0la+ing it with an automaton of the im0erial state, On release from the Binistry of Aove, Winston and @ulia are veritable <ombies, &ut it would be wrong to argue that on a++ount of their fate, se% has led them to a 0oliti+al dead end, 5n an interview she gave to Geoff $an+o+7 titled 9Tightro0e8Wal7ing Over 'iagara 2alls,9 Bargaret #twood e%0lains that li7e her own dysto0ia The $andmaid's Tale, 1 !" a+tually ends with the 0romise of a su++essful revolution: 9Orwell is mu+h more o0timisti+ than 0eo0le give him +redit for,,,, $e has a te%t at the end of 1 !", Bost 0eo0le thin7 the boo7 ends when Winston +omes to love &ig &rother, &ut it doesn't, 5t ends with a note on 'ews0ea7, whi+h is written in the 0ast tense, in standard 6nglish88whi+h means that, at the time of writing the note, 'ews0ea7 is a thing of the 0ast9 (#twood -1/), Orwell's 0ost8narrative essay indire+tly suggests that through the liberating 0ower of a se%ual revolution, reason and intelle+tualism will trium0h over thought8 +ontrol and violen+e, Remember that though Winston and @ulia understand their li7ely fate, desire allows them to feel human, ho0eful, and redeemed even under the blea7est 0ossible +onditions, @ust how many other O+eanian +ou0les are out there e%0erien+ing a se%ual and 0oliti+al awa7ening of this 7ind is im0ossible to say, Ai7e the s+ores of men whom @ulia on+e sedu+ed, it is still 0ossible on #irstri0 One for 0otential revolutionaries to be born, grown u0, dis+over their se%uality, and88at least for a time88maintain 0ersonal relationshi0s beyond the rea+h of the ;arty, *u+h radi+als may eventually be +aught and +rushed, &ut their dreams remain 0ossible on an individual level, :ust as in We, resistan+e was 0ossible on a +olle+tive level, 5t is in &rave 'ew World, the dar7est of these 0ro:e+ted 0oliti+al fi+tions, that revolution of any 7ind be+omes virtually unthin7able, Ai7e We, &rave 'ew World de0i+ts a +ushy so+iety e%isting ?.. years from the time of its +om0osition in whi+h the government +ontrols 0eo0le by satiating rather than re0ressing their desires, (1/) es0e+ially their se%ual desires, We and &rave 'ew World share a single 0oliti+al 0hiloso0hy: ha00iness and freedom are irre+on+ilable, so the government must +hoose to su00ort one to the e%+lusion of the other, 5n both boo7s, ha00iness is +hosen, The deni<ens of World *tate are +ontrolled through a methodology of debasing 0leasure, Aife is 0am0ered and 0ointlessI only the body 0oliti+ moves in the dire+tion of self80er0etuation, Through 0renatal mani0ulation, drugs, hy0nosis, and ;avlovian +onditioning, the +iti<ens of this 0ostmodern Aondon are bred to

enter one of five segregated +lasses, ea+h ha00y on its own level of mental awareness and 0hysi+al ability, ;eo0le are made to be +ontented with their em0loyment, so+ial status, re+reational a+tivities, and living =uarters so that they +an 0erform their small, 0redetermined fun+tions within the vast so+ietal ma+hine, 6veryone is so 0erfe+tly a++limated to her 0ur0ose in life, and the ma+hine is so effe+tive at 0rodu+ing 0erfe+t human ty0es, that so+iety 0er0etuates itself flawlessly without any +ons+ious guidan+e, Ai7e other 0ro:e+ted 0oliti+al fi+tions, +ontrolling the se% lives of One*taters is 0erha0s the largest and most aggressively 0ursued governmental +on+ern in &rave 'ew World, Yet, +ontrol is a+hieved through satiation rather than re0ression, &y +ustom and law, 0eo0le in &rave 'ew World have unlimited a++ess to ea+h other's bodies, Giving 0eo0le all the se% they want defuses the revolutionary danger im0li+it in se% by removing the element of desire, 5nstead of a+tively 0ursuing new avenues of se%ual e%+itement, the inhabitants of One*tate are shee0ishly gratified by a state8+ontrolled mating system, $u%ley, li7e Zamyatin, demonstrates that revolutionary 0ower lies not in the se%ual a+t itself, but in the yearning for bodies and 0ra+ti+es that are forbidden or ina++essible, 5n One83imensional Ban, $erbert Bar+use argues that the frustration of se%ual desire is, oddly enough, a 0ositive and liberating for+e:
5ibido transcends beyond the immediate erotogenic +ones&&a process of nonrepressive sublimation. In contrast, a mechani+ed environment seems to block such self&transcendence of libido.... It also reduces the need for sublimation. In the mental apparatus, the tension between that which is desired and that which is permitted seem considerably lowered, and the >eality 6rinciple no longer seems to re)uire a sweeping and painful transformation of instinctual needs.... 2he organism is thus being preconditioned for the spontaneous acceptance of what is offered.... 7ne might speak of !institutionali+ed desublimation.! 2he latter appears to be a vital factor in the making of the authoritarian.! #'<, emphasis in original(

#++ording to Bar+use, in a world where strong se%ual im0ulses often go unfulfilled be+ause the +ulture and environment are resistant to them, these im0ulses beget dreams and desires that trans+end the self, and the individual is en+ouraged to reali<e and struggle for something better than the status =uo, $owever, in a so+iety li7e World *tate, where satisfa+tion from the se% a+t is fully guaranteed by the state on a +ontinual basis, inter+ourse is redu+ed to a 0urely mundane a+t whi+h +an ignite no as0irations, 5n Orwell's O+eania, se%ual desire is +onsistently frustrated, 4onse=uently, libidinal satisfa+tion be+omes a fundamental goal that +an serve as an o0ening to more ambitious dreams and so0histi+ated ob:e+tives, 2or e%am0le, Winston's 0assion for the seemingly unobtainable @ulia leads him to envision an entire uto0ian lands+a0e, the 9Golden 4ountry,9 where they +an love but also live freely, &ut in &rave 'ew World, asso+iations between se% and freedom have been almost +om0letely eradi+ated, *in+e desire is always 0otentially anar+hi+, it is eliminated through geneti+ engineering, +onditioning, drugs, and hy0noti+ influen+e, *e% is redu+ed to the 0hysi+al a+t itself, The idea is that when 0eo0le get all the se% they want without any effort or e%ertion, se%uality is thoroughly desublimated, 'o +on+e0t of liberty or individuality +an arise from lust be+ause the +onstant gratifi+ation of se%ual im0ulses 0re+ludes the ho0es, ambitions, and desires whi+h arise from the deferment of +onsummation, &y ma7ing se% so easily and +ontinuously available, the government fosters

+om0la+en+y and 0eo0le be+ome +ontent with a 0ubli+ 0leasure system that doles out orgasms li7e meal ti+7ets, The 0oliti+al a00li+ations of desire are +astrated, *in+e desire +an no longer e%ist between Onestaters, $u%ley subverts the state system by introdu+ing an outsider, a00ro0riately +alled @ohn the *avage, The +enter0ie+e of &rave 'ew World is the relationshi0 between @ohn and the geneti+ally engineered Aenina, 5t varies somewhat from my 0aradigm of a se%ual relationshi0 between an orthodo% and a revolutionary +hara+ter in that although @ohn starts out with genuine love and admiration for Onestate889O brave new world that has su+h 0eo0le in it9 ($u%ley 1./)88Aenina is hardly a 0oliti+al radi+al, Yet, though Aenina is not a 0roa+tive figure li7e Orwell's @ulia or Zamyatin's 5811., @ohn's irre0ressible lust for Aenina transforms him from an ardent admirer of his new home to a so+ial and 0oliti+al mal+ontent, *in+e Aenina offers no revolutionary +redo for @ohn to ado0t, he withdraws from World *tate instead of rebelling against it, #nd in allowing his 0ea+eful emigration, the state treats him as a disaffe+ted lover rather than a dangerous radi+al, @ohn's eventual de+ision to live as a re+luse +an be tra+ed ba+7 to the 0ersonal 0hiloso0hy he derives from an old, dis+arded +o0y of The 4om0lete Wor7s of William *ha7es0eare, 5n this res0e+t, &rave 'ew World is very li7e 1 !" in that both novels e%0lore the strong bond between thought and language, 5n his essay 9&rave 'ew World Revisited,9 $u%ley argues that memory, emotional res0onses, and behavior all de0end on language: 9Aanguage gives definition to our memories and ,,, +onverts the immedia+y of +raving ,,, into fi%ed 0rin+i0les of feeling and +ondu+t9 ($u%ley !?), 'ot sur0risingly, the limitation of language is used in both &rave 'ew World and 1 !" as a tool for mani0ulating the +iti<enry, $ereti+al thoughts are +ontrolled not sim0ly through +ensorshi0, but through the eradi+ation of 0otentially subversive words from the s0o7en language itself, &y stigmati<ing and su00ressing words li7e 9mother9 and 9father,9 the +on+e0t of the family unit be+omes unthin7able for the &rave 'ew Worldians in the same way that rebellion be+omes unthin7able in 1 !" through the redu+tion of 6nglish to 'ews0ea7, Aanguage +an thus wor7 as both a liberating and a limiting for+e, @ohn's 0ro+ess of linguisti+ self8dis+overy de0ends entirely on eroti+ e%0erien+e, ;ra+ti+ally from his infan+y, @ohn 0assively a++e0ts his mother's 0rostitution and the anguish it +auses, res0onding to both with +onfusion: 9'Why did they hurt you, AindaC' '5 don't 7now, $ow should 5 7nowC,,, They say those men are their men'9 ($u%ley /, em0hasis in original), #s he begins absorbing the language of *ha7es0eare, @ohn is able to +onte%tuali<e both his burgeoning desire and his latent rage, One day, when his mother negle+ts to +lose her bedroom door while engaging in inter+ourse with her boyfriend ;o0e, @ohn's :ealousy ignites a 0oliti+al e0i0hany and he rebels:
It was as though he #9ohn( had never really hated 6ope before? never really hated him because he had never been able to say how much he hated him. But now he had these words.... 2he door of the inner room was open, and he saw them lying together on the bed.... 2he words repeated and repeated themselves in his head.... 2he knife for the meat was lying on the floor near the fireplace.... He ran across the room and stabbed. #Huxley -4-&-48(

5n this moment, @ohn +omes to understand both the tragi+ +hara+ters of *ha7es0eare and the tragedy of his mother's life, $is Oedi0al 0assion for revenge turns gray lines of *ha7es0eare on

faded yellow 0ages into a living body of material 7nowledge, $is newfound vo+abulary also allows him to reali<e his love for Aenina, even as it +auses him to misinter0ret her +onditioned se%ual advan+es as deliberate li+entiousness and +ondemn her under the 6li<abethan moral +ode he found in *ha7es0eare, a +ode that has been e%tin+t for nearly a thousand years, 9'3amned whoreE' ,,, The *avage 0ushed her away with su+h for+e that she staggered and fell,,,, 'Get out of my sight or 5'll 7ill you,' ,,, The noise of that 0rodigious sla0 by whi+h her de0arture was a++elerated was li7e a 0istol shot9 ($u%ley 1" ), Though the ha0less Aenina has no ideology of subversion to offer @ohn, his 0assion for her +arries him to the brin7 of violent rebellion, $u%ley's novel suggests that even where there is no subversive ideology to ado0t, se%ual arousal still breeds disaffe+tion toward 0oliti+al sub:ugation, 'ot sur0risingly, se%ual desire is also the means by whi+h @ohn's s0iritual beliefs ta7e hold, #t the end of the novel, @ohn +hooses God over +omfort, withdrawing from World *tate to the lighthouse, Yet he is only able to ma7e this +hoi+e after understanding his se%ual desire for Aenina and the 0romise of fulfillment her body brings, &ut &rave 'ew World is not an endorsement of @ohn's +hosen as+eti+ lifestyle, &y the end of the novel, @ohn has retreated into an e%isten+e of +ruel self8flagellation, whi+h, though +atharti+ at first, ultimately 0roves unsustainable when he surrenders to the orgy in the heather, &y be+oming a suffering re+luse who attem0ts to s0end the rest of his life 0unishing himself for +ir+umstan+es and feelings that are largely beyond his +ontrol, @ohn +ontradi+ts the moral 0hiloso0hy whi+h $u%ley 0uts forth in the first few lines of the foreword to his novel, 94hroni+ remorse, as all the moralists are agreed, is a most undesirable sentiment ,,, re0ent, ma7e what amends you +an ,,, behave better ne%t time, On no a++ount brood over your wrongdoing, Rolling in the mu+7 is not the best way of getting +lean9 ($u%ley %iii), $u%ley has thus shown the reader two unhealthy so+ieties in &rave 'ew World, the soulless +onglomerate of the +ivili<ed many and the maso+histi+ madhouse of the savage one, &rave 'ew World is the dar7est of all 0ro:e+ted 0oliti+al fi+tions be+ause ho0e has been eliminated along with 0oliti+s and history, 6ven though desire for Aenina has +aused the s+ales to fall from @ohn's eyes, he +annot ins0ire and lead others be+ause geneti+ and behavioral 0rogramming has made it im0ossible for $u%ley's Aondoners to understand anti8establishment rhetori+, Whereas We +on+ludes in the midst of an o0en rebellion, and 1 !" ends with the idea that even if they are eventually found out, re+al+itrant +hara+ters li7e Winston and @ulia are still out there and will +ontinue to be born, &rave 'ew World denies that our mass80rodu+ed des+endants will be able to even understand the +on+e0t of freedom, 5n $u%ley's nightmare world of the future, the se%ual desire that awa7ens @ohn to the horrors of World *tate 0ro+eeds from romanti+ devotion to an attem0t at rebellion to an im0lied theology, whi+h be+omes the only remaining area in whi+h a glimmer of ho0e +an be lo+ated, To this end, $u%ley +asts @ohn the *avage as a @ohn the &a0tist figure, an out+ast who lives and dies in frustration but suggests the 0romise of future deliveran+e, &oth the 'ew Testament @ohn and the @ohn of &rave 'ew World were born of 0utatively infertile women to emerge from the wilderness 0ointing the way to salvation, &oth o0enly and notoriously +hallenge the 0oliti+al systems they en+ounter, @ohn the &a0tist through his rebu7e of $erod #nti0as and @ohn the *avage through his =uestioning of Busta0ha Bond, &oth assert their +hallenges on religious grounds, 95 don't want +omfort, 5 want God9 ($u%ley 1!"), #nd 0rematurely, both die for their

beliefs under se%uali<ed +ir+umstan+es, @ohn the &a0tist is e%e+uted after $erod ma7es a rash 0romise to his alluring ste0daughter following a sedu+tive dan+e, @ohn the *avage e%e+utes himself after he is sedu+ed in the heather, &ut :ust as @ohn the &a0tist was a harbinger of 4hrist, the life and death of @ohn the *avage hints at the 0ossibility of an eventual messiah, Yet, what ma7es it all so s+ary is that when the messiah arrives, we might not want to be freed from the 0i+tures=ue 0rison des+ribed by $u%ley, $u%ley himself a+7nowledges that his fi+tional world of se%ual gratifi+ation, lasting youth, and nar+oti+ e+stasy feels enti+ingly li7e a uto0ian ideal: 9The termitary has +ome to seem a reali<able and even, in some eyes, a desirable ideal, 'eedless to say, the ideal will never be reali<ed, # great gulf se0arates the so+ial inse+t from the not too gregarious, big8brained animalI and even though the mammal should do his best to imitate the inse+t, the gulf would remain9 ($u%ley, 9&rave 'ew World Revisited9 1 ), The idea of the gulf that surrounds and 0rote+ts this in+orru0tible s0iritual s0a+e is +onfirmed when Busta0ha Bond admits that even he has +ome to believe that God e%ists ($u%ley 1!.), &ut des0ite his awareness of the deity, Bust0ha Bond88the most +ogni<ant member of $u%ley's dysto0ian so+iety88still +hooses the enslavement of 0leasure over liberation among the e%iles, $is +hoi+e im0lies that the re:uvenating 0otential of s0irituality +an only arise at the end of 0oliti+al history, This is also refle+ted by the fa+t that the *avage, though he +hooses God over +omfort, =ui+7ly allows his 0oliti+al +ommunity of one by the lighthouse to degenerate into self8destru+tive debau+hery, &rave 'ew World is almost a &oo7 of Revelation for the new millennium, a story whi+h shows the final, dar7 stage of human develo0ment while 0ointing toward the theologi+al ho0e of rebirth without a+tually re0resenting it, Baddeningly, $u%ley's 0ro:e+ted 0oliti+al fi+tion refuses to answer the =uestion of how renewal will ta7e 0la+e, :ust as Zamyatin's refuses to give a +lear 0i+ture of who the vi+tor will be in the Bem0hi's revolution and Orwell's refuses to +onfirm or deny the e%isten+e of the &rotherhood, &ut an intangible ho0e is im0lied in all three novels, and it begins ea+h time with an ungovernable se%ual relationshi0, Though their s0e+ifi+ +on+erns and 0hiloso0hies differ, all of these authors use the tro0e of the future to elu+idate the interrelated se%ual and 0oliti+al re0ression that they re+ogni<ed in their own so+ieties, and their +on+erns still resonate today, 6ven aside from efforts to legislate morality, +onsider our 0erverse +ultural fas+ination with the se%ual +ondu+t of 0ubli+ figures and, even more intriguingly, our voyeuristi+ +om0ulsion to s0y on tawdry behavior through reality 0rograms, web +ameras, and in+reasingly even television news broad+asts, 2etishes of this 7ind are e+hoed in the +overt, government8s0onsored 0orn industry, 0ornose+, for whi+h @ulia wor7s in 1 !" and the literally sensational +elluloid feelies of &rave 'ew World, #s 2ou+ault would undoubtedly 0oint out, our own obsessions have es+alated in 0ro0ortion to the various state8 s0onsored methods for restri+ting the se% lives of individuals (for e%am0le, laws regulating abortion and +ontra+e0tion, laws +ensoring the +ontent and dissemination of eroti+a, and laws that deliberately 0erse+ute gay, transgendered, and bise%ual +iti<ens solely for their 0rivate se%ual +ondu+t (1!)), These issues +all for a renaissan+e of 0ro:e+ted 0oliti+al fi+tion, a genre whi+h ironi+ally had its heyday in the first half of the last +entury, (1 ) The year 1 !" has +ome and gone, With mar7et8based demo+ra+ies dominating the globe at the start of the third millennium, the reality of 0oliti+al tyranny in the West has seemingly re+eded, *till, it behooves us to noti+e that the 0otential tools of tyranny are multi0lying at an unsettling

rate, 5n my offi+e, there are no memory holes to in+inerate in+riminating or subversive do+uments, but, in+reasingly, all of our 0ersonal and 0ubli+ information is stored in ele+troni+ databases or networ7s that +an be erased or altered with a few 7eystro7es, &oo7s, whi+h +an be hidden or 0reserved, bear the durable mar7 of 0rint, and must be found out and destroyed +o0y by +o0y are being re0la+ed by more +om0a+t yet infinitely more fragile and malleable forms of digital media, This morning, no one issued me a ration of the 9soma9 so +hillingly des+ribed by $u%ley, &ut larger and larger segments of our 0o0ulation are being over8medi+ated with mood88 and mind88altering 0res+ri0tion drugs a00roved by federal agen+ies, 'o one (not yet anyway) is wat+hing me through my television or a glass wall, &ut my 5nternet browser leaves a trail, 0ro+essed by +or0orate and governmental entities, as 5 surf from site to site on the World Wide Web, where our business and 0leasure are in+reasingly found, The world may be a freer 0la+e than it was at the beginning of the last +entury, but 0ro:e+ted 0oliti+al fi+tion reminds us that the tools of o00ression still surround us and if memory, intelle+t, and emotion are ever fully assimilated, se%ual desire may be our last ho0e, 'otes 1, 5 am not using the word 90ro:e+tion9 in a 0sy+hoanalyti+ sense, 2reudian 0ro:e+tion, first introdu+ed in 9The ;sy+hothera0y of $ysteria9 (1! >), refers to the tenden+y of individuals to unwittingly 0ro:e+t their own 0ersonal faults or 0er+eived failings on to other 0eo0le or e%ternal institutions, 5 use this word in a wholly different, tem0oral sense to des+ribe the way in whi+h twentieth8+entury dysto0ian writers 0ro:e+t their stories and ideas into the future for s0e+ial em0hasis, -, 6ri7a Gottlieb has 0ointed out that the term dysto0ia, meaning bad 0la+e, was introdu+ed as an o00osite to the idea of the uto0ia, or good 0la+e, by @, Ba% ;atri+7 in 1 >-, While 0ro:e+ted 0oliti+al fi+tion is +ertainly a 7ind of dysto0ian fi+tion, the s0e+ifi+ity of this new label fo+us attention on the fa+t that in the twentieth +entury, writers of dysto0ian fi+tion be+ame in+reasingly +on+erned with the 0oliti+al fate of all humanity, 5 believe that the old model of both uto0ian and dysto0ian fi+tion, in whi+h an un7nown land is dis+overed by a wayward traveler from +ontem0orary so+iety who returns to tell about it, largely fell out of favor after *amuel &utler's 6rewhon be+ause of its limitations in dealing with universal +on+erns, 1, 5n a review of We whi+h a00eared in Tribune on " @anuary 1 "?, Orwell writes: 9The first thing anyone would noti+e about We is the fa+t88never 0ointed out, 5 believe88that $u%ley's &rave 'ew World must be 0artly derived from it,9 This review has been re0rinted in George Orwell, 5n 2ront Of Your 'ose: the +olle+ted essays, :ournalism, and letters of George Orwell, ed, *onia Orwell and 5an #ngus ('ew Yor7: $ar+ourt &ra+e @ovanovi+h, 1 ?!), /-8/>, #++ording to @erome Be+7ier's essay, 9;oetry 5n The 2uture, The 2uture of ;oetry: $u%ley, Orwell, and Zamyatin,9 $u%ley would later deny having read We, both to 3rieu Aa Ro+helle and to Zamyatin himself, ", 5n Be+7ier's o0inion, 9Orwell's borrowings resurre+ted Zamyatin's novel, whereas $u%ley seems to have made una+7nowledged use9 (1 ), *ee also Bar7 R, $illegas The 2uture as 'ightmare: $,G, Wells and the #nti8Dto0ians ('ew Yor7: O%ford Dniversity ;ress, 1 ?/),

whi+h, in +ha0ter si%, details the various similarities between 1 !" and We and as+ribes them to the heavy influen+e that $,G, Wells had on both writers, >, #dmittedly, in all three of the novels dis+ussed in this study, it is a he, rather than a she, that is won over, but this is not universally true of 0ro:e+ted 0oliti+al fi+tion, @a+7 Aondon's 5ron $eel, whi+h is narrated from the 0ers0e+tive of a +onservative middle +lass girl who marries a stra00ing 0roletarian revolutionary, is one notable e%+e0tion, ?, 2or e%am0le, Aenina's +raving for monogamy in &rave 'ew World, /, *ee 2ou+ault's The $istory of *e%uality, volume 5 ('ew Yor7: Random $ouse, 1 /!), whi+h argues88in 0art88that the se%ual revolution was no true revolution, but instead 0layed into the hands of the establishment: 9;ower over se% is e%er+ised the same way at all levels ,,, whatever the devi+es or institutions on whi+h it relies, it a+ts in a uniform and +om0rehensive manner,,,, 2rom state to family, from 0rin+e to father, from the tribunal to the small +hange of everyday 0unishments, from the agen+ies of so+ial domination to the stru+tures that +onstitute the sub:e+t himself, one finds a general form of 0ower, varying in s+ale alone9 (!"8!>), !, Bargaret #twood tried to bu+7 this andro+enti+ model of the dysto0ia by writing The $andmaid's Tale, 5n a &&4 interview, 0artially e%+er0ted in a re+ent arti+le #twood wrote for ;BA#, #twood asserts that though The $andmaid's Tale is not a feminist dysto0ia, it fills a need for a female 0ers0e+tive within the genre: 9The ma:ority of dysto0ias88Orwell's in+luded88have been written by men, and the 0oint of view has been male, When women have a00eared in them, they have been either se%less automatons or rebels who've defied the se% rules of the regime, They've a+ted as the tem0tresses of the male 0rotagonists, however wel+ome this tem0tation may be to the men themselves, Thus @ulia, thus the +ami7ni+7ers8wearing, orgy80orgy sedu+er of the *avage in &rave 'ew World, thus the subversive femme fatale of Yevgeny Zamyatin's 1 -" seminal +lassi+, We, 5 wanted to try a dysto0ia from the female 0oint of view88the world a++ording to @ulia, as it were, $owever, this does not ma7e The $andmaid's Tale a 9feminist dysto0ia,9 e%+e0t insofar as giving a woman a voi+e and an inner life will always be +onsidered 9feminist9 by those who thin7 women ought not to have these things,9 Bargaret #twood 9The $andmaid's Tale and Ory% and 4ra7e in 4onte%t9 ;BA# 11 ,1 Bay -.." (>1?), , This +on+e0tion of se%ual desire as a basi+, untrainable, animal energy is 0resented by these authors as a universal truth, though it may in fa+t be +onstru+ted, These 3ysto0ian writers felt that there had to be some as0e+t of humanity beyond the rea+h of 0ower, and in their writings they settled on se%ual desire, One of the obvious limitations of this model is its ta+it denial of homose%ual tenden+ies, These writers argue that se%uality is truly ungovernable and un0redi+table, yet88in We and &rave 'ew World88they also suggest that homose%ual in+linations +an be +om0letely removed from the human 0sy+he, 5f this as0e+t of human se%uality +an be +ontrolled by the state, it is 0lausible to thin7 that the whole of se%ual desire +ould be too, 1., The only real +onstraint on se%ual a+tivity is that a 'umber whose body +hemistry +alls for a high number of se% days may have to wait tem0orarily on the availability of a desired 'umber with a naturally lower se% drive, $owever, sin+e the amount of available +hoi+es in the densely

0o0ulated +ity is always fairly high, there is nothing in the story to suggest that su+h an in+onvenien+e is even 0er+e0tible, 11, Than7s to my +olleague 3iana 6delman8Young at the Dniversity of 'orth 4arolina at 4ha0el $ill for 0ointing this out to me, 1-, The name of the ruling and only 0oliti+al 0arty in O+eania, an abbreviation of 6nglish *o+ialism, Though a so+ialist himself, Orwell wanted to ma7e +lear that tyranny +ould +ome :ust as easily from the left as from the right, 11, #s the ruling 0arty of O+eania is so+ialist by 0hiloso0hy if not by 0ra+ti+e, leftist vo+abulary is em0loyed, 1", *talin 0robably served as Orwell's 0hysi+al and ideologi+al model for &ig &rother, 5t is also li7ely that within the story, &ig &rother is a +reation of the ;arty 0ro0aganda ma+hine rather than a flesh8and8blood 0erson, 1>, Though this +rude witti+ism may stri7e a +ontem0orary reader as almost 0e:orative, Orwell uses it to +onvey Winston's frustration with @ulia's la+7 of interest in 0oliti+al theory, and the +orres0onding, 0layful delight that @ulia ta7es in Winston's frustration, 1?, Though the se%ual attra+tion between Winston and @ulia does lead to romanti+ love, this is not always +hara+teristi+ of 0ro:e+ted 0oliti+al fi+tion, 5n We, it is un+lear whether 1811. ever fully re+i0ro+ates 38>.1's affe+tions and in &rave 'ew World, it is un+lear whether a +hara+ter li7e Aenina is +a0able of feeling and giving love in the way that we understand it, 5t is lust that +onsistently a+ts as the +atalyst in these novels, not love, 1/, 5t is mu+h easier to understand &rave 'ew World as a 0ro:e+ted 0oliti+al fi+tion rather than a traditional dysto0ia, sin+e the novel really +onstitutes a +riti=ue of the uto0ian ideal as o00osed to a de0i+tion of a +learly bad 0la+e, &e+ause One*tate is su+h a ha00y and attra+tive world, $u%ley is really satiri<ing most 0eo0le's idea of what 0aradise would loo7 and feel li7e, 1! Bost re+ently George W, &ush's ill8fated initiative to +reate a +onstitutional amendment to deny the fundamental right to marry to members of the gay and lesbian +ommunity, 1 , The de+line in the 0rodu+tion of 0ro:e+ted 0oliti+al fi+tions during the se+ond half of the twentieth +entury may have to do with the in+on+lusive turmoil of the se%ual revolution devolving into the moral ma:ority of the Reagan8That+her era +ou0led with the emergen+e of #53*, These fa+tors wor7ed to diminish our +ultural belief in the redem0tive 0otential of se%ual desire, Wor7s 4ited #twood, Bargaret, 9The $andmaid's Tale and Ory% and 4ra7e in 4onte%t,9 ;BA#, 11 ,1 Bay

-..": >118>1/, #twood, Bargaret, 9Tightro0e8Wal7ing Over 'iagara 2alls,9 &y Geoff $an+o+7, 4anadian Writers at Wor7, 6d, Geoff $an+o+7, Toronto: O%ford Dniversity ;ress, 1 !/, R0t, in Bargaret #twood 4onversations, 6d, 6arl G, 5ngersoll, ;rin+eton: Ontario Review ;ress, 1 ., 1 18--., &aru+h, 6laine $offman, 9'The Golden 4ountry:' *e% and Aove in 1 !",9 1 !" Revisited, 6d, 5rving $owe, 'ew Yor7: $ar0er J Row, 1 !1, "/8>?, 3eleu<e, Gilles and 2eli% Guattari, #nti8Oedi0us, Trans, Robert $urley, Bar7 *eem, and $elen R, Aane, 1 /-, Binnea0olis: Dniversity of Binnesota ;ress, -..., 2ou+ault, Bi+hel, The $istory of *e%uality, Folume 1, Trans, Robert $urley, 1 /!, 'ew Yor7: Random $ouse, 1 ., Gottlieb, 6ri7a, 3ysto0ian 2i+tion 6ast and West, Bontreal: B+Gill8Kueen's Dniversity ;ress, -..1, Gregg, Ri+hard #, 9Two #dams and 6ve in the 4rystal ;la+e: 3ostoevs7y, the &ible, and We,9 Zamyatin's We: 6ssays, 6d, Gary Lern, #nn #rbor: #rdis, 1 !!, ?18? , $u%ley, #ldous, &rave 'ew World J &rave 'ew World Revisited, 1 1-, 'ew Yor7: $ar0er J Row, 1 ?>, Bar+use, $erbert, One83imensional Ban, 1 ?", &oston: &ea+on ;ress, 1 1,

B+4arthy, ;atri+7 #, 9Zamyatin and the 'ightmare of Te+hnology,9 *+ien+e 2i+tion *tudies 11,11 (1 !"): 1--81- , Be+7ier, @erome, 9;oetry in the 2uture, the 2uture of ;oetry: $u%ley and Orwell on Zamyatin,9 Renaissan+e and Bodern *tudies -! (1 !"): 1!81 , Bihailovi+h, Fasa 3, 94riti+s on 6vgeny Zamyatin,9 ;a0ers on Aanguage J Aiterature 1.,1 (1 /"): 11/811", Orwell, George, 1 !", 1 " , 'ew Yor7: $ar+ourt &ra+e @ovanovi+h, 1 //, Orwell, George, 9We &y 6, 5, Zamyatin,9 Tribune, " @an, 1 "?, R0t, in 5n 2ront of Your 'ose, 6d, *onia Orwell and 5an #ngus, 'ew Yor7: $ar+ourt &ra+e @ovanovi+h, 1 ?!, Taylor, @enny, 93esire is Thought+rime9 'ineteen 6ighty82our in 1 !" 6d, ;aul 4hilton and 4ris0in #ubrey, 'ew Yor7: 4omedia, 1 !", -"81-, Tirohl, &lu, 9We #re The 3ead ,,, You #re The 3ead: #n 6%amination of *e%uality as a Wea0on

of Revolt in Orwell's 'ineteen 6ighty82our,9 @ournal of Gender *tudies, ,1 (-...): >>8?1, Zamyatin, Yevgeny, We, Trans, 4laren+e &rown, 1 -", 'ew Yor7: ;enguin, 1 $oran, Thomas Source Citation (BA# /th 6dition) $oran, Thomas, 9Revolutions from the waist downwards: desire as rebellion in Yevgeny Zamyatin's We, George Orwell's 1 !", and #ldous $u%ley's &rave 'ew World,9 Extrapolation "!,- (-../): 11"M, Literature Resource Center, Web, 1- 'ov, -.1-, 3o+ument DRA htt0:NNgo,galegrou0,+omN0sNi,doCidOG#A6 P/4#1?!/"- >?JvO-,1JuOfoothillQmainJitOrJ0OAitR4JswOw Gale Document Number: G#A6R#1?!/"- >? 4o0yright and Terms of Dse: htt0:NNwww,gale,+omNe0+o0yright 1,