Quote:
Originally Posted by AnotherCat
Also, if the book had maybe lost some of its bite as its allusions to real persons in the contemporary world would have been more obvious to contemporary readers; whereas, as best I remember, Waugh's novels, for example, did not have such allusions to real contemporaries so does not age so much in that respect.
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Definitely agree here. I certainly felt that the satire would've been far more biting and the novel in general more interesting had it been read by somebody living more directly around the personalities represented by the characters. I did generally appreciate the read though, notably thanks to Huxley's wit, but also due to the fact that I have examples of roughly those sorts of relentless intellectualism around me and so I'm able to identify the satire to certain people (although we're not as snobbish as the English, there is A LOT of thinking and intelligence purely for its own sake here in France); that being said I have a hard time seeing how the novel could be of much interest to people for whom the discussion is less relevant, apart from being a droll time capsule.
Since for me satire is strongly rooted in being a sort of cathartic experience that lures you into a reflection on the good and the bad in the way things are, what'll define an excellent piece of satire is that it deals with timeless, innately human issues, allowing that experience to happen no matter who you are or when you live. And although Crome Yellow comes close, I feel like it's a little bit too relative to the era to fit into that category.