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| Caramelicious | Sunday 12th of June 2005 06:44:10 AM |
| A quote from - I am reading “A Brave New World” for school, in the beginning there is a quote in French. I am trying to figure out what it is saying. Without directly translating I am getting no where. I didn’t want to directly translate, I just wanted to understand but that doesn’t seem to be working. But here is the quote, can someone explain it to me?
“Les utopias apparaissent comme bien plus réalisables qu’on ne le croyait autrefois. Et nous nous trouvons actuellement devant une question bien autrement angoissante: Comment éviter leur realization défintive?... Les utopias sont réalisables. La vie marche vers les utopias. Et peut-être un siècle nouveau commence-t-il, un siècle où les intellectuals et la classe cultivée rêveront aux moyens d’éviter les utopias et de retourner à une société non utopique, moins “parfaite” et plus libre.” --- Nicolas Berdiaeff I am getting when I read this: I think they are talking about utopian societies. Something about “How to avoid their final realization? Utopians are reasonable. The life walk towards the utopians? I do not know all of the meanings. If it is possible could the person who replies to this tell me “About” the quote and not tell me specifically what it means in English. Thanx | |
| EmDee1B86 | Sunday 12th of June 2005 08:12:53 AM |
| - Interesting quote. I read the book in high school, but I didn't ever come across that quote and mine was the complete unabridged version. As for the message, this is what I think it's trying to say without mentioned any names from the book. He is probably trying to say that people often think it's easy to achieve a state of utopia. It seems that our lives constantly evolve in order to achieve utopia, but he implies that once a society believes it has reached a utopia, certain people will find ways of reverting back to the time before their ancestors achieved that state of utopia. These people are the intellectuals, and others educated enough to realize that one cannot maintain utopia and eternal perfection especially if every part of their lives are under the control of a strict totalitarian state. Though the state leaders may believe they are keeping the freedom, peace and happiness by providing the populace's wants and desires, they are however preventing the people from controlling their own personal freedoms like expressing one's creativity perhaps. How are people supposed to evolve without any innovation? It's impossible because nothing changes life's static. To paraphrase Thomas Bernhard, an Austrian writer, perfection is impossible since perfection is stagnancy which leads to [holistic] death. This is the model dystopian nightmare.
I recommend you also read Yevgeny Zamyatin's [i]We[/i] which was the inspiration for Orwell's [i]1984[/i] and Huxley's [i]BNW[/i] although I don't think at least from what I read, he ever credited him. It's also a great book, though a slow read. | |
| Caramelicious | Sunday 12th of June 2005 08:26:53 AM |
| - Well the quote is not "in" the story it is like on the pages before the story and before the Forward also. i have the Version published by "Perennial Classics", publsihed or "republished" in 1998.
But I thank you for your explination. I like the way you explained it. :D I can now better understand it. :D So... une société utopique ne peut pas habiter. La société utopique est parfait et elle n'est pas parfait, mais si une société devient une société utopique, les gens les gens d'intellect retourneront a une société normale qu'est moins parfait mais plus libre. Donc à Nicolas Berdiaeff (l'autueur de la citation) une société utopique a beaucoup mais elle n'est pas libre? Je pense que je comprends maintenant, Merci! | |
| EmDee1B86 | Sunday 12th of June 2005 08:46:20 AM |
| - No problem. :) I just hope I didn't reveal too much, while hoping to give some insight into one of that quote's many hidden meanings. | |
| Caramelicious | Sunday 12th of June 2005 08:55:22 AM |
| - nope, now I want to read the book even more, before I wasn't really wanting to read it. WE have to read this book and a book called "Anthem" and write a comparrison essay on them for a summer report (IB program is lovely isn't it.... that would be sarcasm). You didn't give much away, but you did give me modivation! :D | |
| EmDee1B86 | Sunday 12th of June 2005 09:23:03 AM |
| - [b]before I wasn't really wanting to read it[/b]
Try watching the movie, if there ever was one. Visuals always helped to motivate me especially when I read A Tale of Two Cities. BNW reminded me of GATTACA which also dealt with pre-natal experimentations to control people though not as extreme and freaky as BNW. | |
| Caramelicious | Sunday 12th of June 2005 09:29:11 AM |
| - I watch GATTACA, I enjoyed the movie. ;D If you didn't know what the name behind GATTACA means, it is the DNA sequence, Guinine, Adenine, Thymine, Cytocine. I more or less probably (redundant lol "more or less probably") spelled those wrong. :D | |
| EmDee1B86 | Sunday 12th of June 2005 09:37:10 AM |
| - YES! (Gu[b]a[/b]nine/Cyto[b]s[/b]ine)
I actually figured that out two years after watching the movie o_O! Well, I better get some sleep now. I'm gonna go see what headsets they sell at the computer shop tomorrow for the Skype convos. Good luck with the essay. :) | |
| MagnumPI | Tuesday 14th of June 2005 12:23:05 PM |
| - The second quote was much easier to understand.
Now I am interetsed in reading that book in French. :) | |
