Cities of Destruction

Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress in the Dystopian Visions of Huxley and Orwell

Gibson, Matthew

Extrapolation (2018), 59, (2), 125–148.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3828/extr.2018.9
Language: English
Pages: 24

Abstract

Erika Gottlieb and E. J. Brown have both argued that Huxley’s Brave New World (1932) and Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) owe varying degrees of debt to Zamyatin’s dystopian novel We (1921). In the following article it will be argued that the narrative structures and characters of both these British novels constitute more fundamentally a secular transformation of John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress (1678), but incorporate elements of futility and pessimism not present to the original religious allegory, due to liberal humanist and democratic values replacing the religious vision.

FormatArticle

£25.00

READ THIS ARTICLE

If you have private access to this content, please log in with your username and password here

Arnold, Matthew. Culture and Anarchy: An Essay in Political and Social Criticism. 1869. Ed. Jane Garnett. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2006. Print. Culture and Anarchy: An Essay in Political and Social Criticism Google Scholar

Augustine. The Confessions, The City of God, On Christian Doctrine. c. 400 C. E. Trans. Edward Bouverie-Pusey. Chicago: William Benton, 1952. Print. The Confessions, The City of God, On Christian Doctrine Google Scholar

Banta, Martha. Worlds at Work in Vanity Fair: Language Shifts in Crucial Time, 1914–1930. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011. Print. Worlds at Work in Vanity Fair: Language Shifts in Crucial Time, 1914–1930 Google Scholar

Berger, Benjamin Lyle. “Calvinism and the Problems of Suspense in The Pilgrim’s Progress.” Bunyan Studies: A Journal of Reformation and Nonconformist Culture 8 (1998): 28–35. Print. Calvinism and the Problems of Suspense in The Pilgrim’s Progress Bunyan Studies: A Journal of Reformation and Nonconformist Culture 8 28 35 Google Scholar

Bounds, Philip. Orwell and Marxism: The Political and Cultural Thinking of George Orwell. London: I. B. Tauris, 2009. Print. Orwell and Marxism: The Political and Cultural Thinking of George Orwell Google Scholar

Brown, Edward J. “Zamyatin’s We and Nineteen-Eighty-Four.” On Nineteen Eighty-Four. Ed. Peter Stansky. Stanford: Stanford Alumni Association, 1983. 159–169. Print. Zamyatin’s We and Nineteen-Eighty-Four On Nineteen Eighty-Four 159 169 Google Scholar

Bunyan, John. The Pilgrim’s Progress: From This World, To That Which Is to Come. 1678. Ed. Roger Pooley. London: Penguin Books, 2008. Print. The Pilgrim’s Progress: From This World, To That Which Is to Come Google Scholar

Carr, Craig L. Orwell, Politics and Power. London: Continuum International Publishing, 2010. Print. Orwell, Politics and Power Google Scholar

Gillen, Paul. “Now Shut Your Eyes: Talking with Jack Beeching.” Overland 184 (Spring, 2006): 66–73. Print. Now Shut Your Eyes: Talking with Jack Beeching Overland 184 66 73 Google Scholar

Gottlieb, Erika. Dystopian Fiction East and West: Universe of Terror and Trial. Montreal: McGill UP, 2001. Print. Dystopian Fiction East and West: Universe of Terror and Trial Google Scholar

Greaves, Richard L. John Bunyan and English Non-Conformity. London: Hambledon Press, 1992. Print. John Bunyan and English Non-Conformity Google Scholar

Haywood, Ian. The Revolution in Popular Literature: Print, Politics and the People, 1790–1860. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2004. Print. The Revolution in Popular Literature: Print, Politics and the People, 1790–1860 Google Scholar

Horan, Thomas. “Revolutions from the Waist Downwards: Desire as Rebellion in Yevgeny Zamyatin’s We, George Orwell’s 1984, and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World.” Extrapolation 48.2 (2007): 314–339. Print. Revolutions from the Waist Downwards: Desire as Rebellion in Yevgeny Zamyatin’s We, George Orwell’s 1984, and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World Extrapolation 48.2 314 339 Google Scholar

Huxley, Aldous. Along the Road: Notes and Essays of a Tourist. 1925. London: Triad Paladin, 1985. Print. Along the Road: Notes and Essays of a Tourist Google Scholar

Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. 1932. Ed. Margaret Atwood and David Bradshaw. London: Vintage Books, 2007. Print. Brave New World Google Scholar

Lindsay, Jack. John Bunyan. London: Methuen Publishers, 1937. Print. John Bunyan Google Scholar

Lindsay, Jack. England, My England … A Pageant of the English People. London: Fore Publications, 1939. Print. England, My England … A Pageant of the English People Google Scholar

Marx, Karl. Capital, Volume I. 1867. Trans. Ben Fowkes. London: Penguin Books, 1990. Print. Capital, Volume I Google Scholar

Mason, Emma. “The Victorians and Bunyan’s Legacy.” The Cambridge Companion to Bunyan. Ed. Anne Dunan-Page. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2010. 150–162. Print. The Victorians and Bunyan’s Legacy The Cambridge Companion to Bunyan 150 162 Google Scholar

Mill, John Stuart. Utilitarianism. London: Parker, Son, and Bourne, 1863. Print. Utilitarianism Google Scholar

Morris, William. News from Nowhere. 1890. Mineola: Dover Publications, 2004. Print. News from Nowhere Google Scholar

Orwell, George. “The Lion and the Unicorn: Socialism and the English Genius.” 1941. Essays. London: Penguin, 2014. Print. The Lion and the Unicorn: Socialism and the English Genius Essays Google Scholar

Orwell, George. “As I Please.” The Tribune 27 October 1944. I have Tried to Tell the Truth: 1943–1944. George Orwell the Complete Works: Sixteen. Ed. Peter Davison, with Ian Angus and Sheila Davison. London: Secker and Warburg, 1998. 439–445. Print. As I Please I have Tried to Tell the Truth: 1943–1944. George Orwell the Complete Works: Sixteen 439 445 Google Scholar

Orwell, George. “Review of We by E. I. Zamyatin.’ The Tribune 4 January 1946. Web. 3 Feb. 2015. Review of We by E. I. Zamyatin The Tribune Google Scholar

Orwell, George. “Introduction to British Pamphleteers, Volume I, edited by George Orwell and Reginald Reynolds.” Spring [?] 1947. It is What I think: 1947–1948. George Orwell the Complete Works: Nineteen. Ed. Peter Davison, with Ian Angus and Sheila Davison. London: Secker and Warburg, 1998. 106–115. Print. Introduction to British Pamphleteers, Volume I, edited by George Orwell and Reginald Reynolds It is What I think: 1947–1948. George Orwell the Complete Works: Nineteen 106 115 Google Scholar

Orwell, George. Nineteen Eighty-Four. 1949. London: Penguin, 1987. Print. Nineteen Eighty-Four Google Scholar

Parsons, R. G. “Pelagianism and Semi-Pelagianism.” Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics. Ed. James Hastings. 12 vols. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1914. Vol. IX 703–711. Print. Pelagianism and Semi-Pelagianism Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics Google Scholar

Peller, Scott. “‘Laboring for a Brave New World: Our Ford and the Epsilons.’” Huxley’s Brave New World: Essays. Ed. David Garrett Izzo and Kim Kirkpatrick. Jefferson: MacFarland & Co., 2008. 62–72. Print. ‘Laboring for a Brave New World: Our Ford and the Epsilons.’ Huxley’s Brave New World: Essays 62 72 Google Scholar

Russell, Robert (ed.). Zamyatin’s We. London: Bristol Classical Press, 1999. Print. Zamyatin’s We Google Scholar

Wells, H. G. A Modern Utopia. 1905. Ed. Gregory Claeys, Patrick Parrinder, Andy Sawyer, and Francis Wheen. London: Penguin, 2005. Print A Modern Utopia Google Scholar

Zamyatin, Eugene. “H. G. Wells.” 1922. A Soviet Heretic: Essays by Yevgeny Zamyatin. Ed. and trans. Mirra Ginsburg. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1970. 259–290. Print. H. G. Wells A Soviet Heretic: Essays by Yevgeny Zamyatin 259 290 Google Scholar

Zamyatin, Eugene. Islanders and the Fisher of Men. 1917. Trans. Sophie Fuller and Julian Sacchi. London: Fontana, 1984. Print. Islanders and the Fisher of Men Google Scholar

Zamyatin, Eugene. We. 1921. Trans. E. J. Brown. London: Penguin, 1993. Print. We Google Scholar

If you have private access to this content, please log in with your username and password here

Details

Author details

Gibson, Matthew

Extrapolation