Wednesday, April 16, 2008

"...what dreams may come"

As promised, a couple more lovely Dreamscapes, with more to come.

You may recognize the title of this post from the somewhat overwrought Robin Williams movie of a few years ago, but they lifted it from Shakespeare, Hamlet's soliloquy to be precise. I just finished the audiobook version of "Brave New World" in which the central character quotes Shakespeare at length, which revved up those sorts of references in my mind. I'd not read it since college, so it was interesting to revisit how its dystopian future compared to today's reality. I'd say in many respects, we're well on our way, with its society's "stability through satiation" approach -- prisoners of cheap pleasures, where an individual's primary role in society is that of consumer, not citizen. Overall, I'd say Orwell's "1984" got more things right on a political basis, but both seem quite prescient. Of course, all of these are books students (at least of my generation) were forced to read in high school, so their message might have been clouded by obligation at the time, but revisiting them by choice can lead to new and better insights. Check 'em out.

And now, back to bed. To sleep, perchance to dream...

3 comments:

Orixx said...

I love that top image, Gary.. how beautiful. And yay, you are talking about books! Brave New World is one of my favorites. Bring that up next time you see me.. I could go on for hours about how I think it relates to today's society, LOL.

unbearable lightness said...

And Hamlet is one of my favorites. Now you're talking...Shakespeare! Yay!

D.L. Wood said...

I'm catching up here.

I haven't read the books. But love the pictures. I'm partial to Red Heads and a real fan of erect nipples so I give her a "10".

D.L. Wood