tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3953690364532718935.post8189947333274410214..comments2024-03-10T15:20:30.552-05:00Comments on stmhumanities: Brave New World & BaudelaireMrs.Qhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17626503384057111894noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3953690364532718935.post-50972858231933957502014-02-01T22:20:57.509-06:002014-02-01T22:20:57.509-06:00I haven't read Brave New World either, so mayb...I haven't read Brave New World either, so maybe it's inappropriate for me to comment on it, but it seems like the basic idea is that there is a perfectly planned world in which the protagonist, who reads Shakespeare, eventually finds the limitations unbearable (ennui) and separates himself from the society. This seems uncannily similar to the situation of the Underground Man: he talked about a world in which everything was planned, and how people couldn't be happy in such a place, and he himself is separated from a world he sees as artificial and "not literary"--again, ennui is found in a contrast between reality and books. To throw in a random comparison, I think that Holden Caulfield feels sort of the same way, but he uses the word "phony" to refer to the same sense of inauthenticity. In keeping with the negativity and combativeness of my last few posts, here is the question I'm thinking of: if both Holden Caulfield and Charles Baudelaire feel alienated from the world by ennui and can find only temporary relief and passing authenticity, how is Baudelaire essentially different from Holden Caulfield?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15094108777233555346noreply@blogger.com