Subject:
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Re: I don't get it
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.pun
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Date:
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Thu, 10 Mar 2005 03:09:44 GMT
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Viewed:
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3047 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.pun, Orion Pobursky wrote:
> In lugnet.off-topic.pun, Dave Schuler wrote:
> > Everyone knows that only my commendable humility exceeds my near-boundless wit,
> > and yet I have stumbled upon a pun-reference that eludes me.
> >
> > I just read Arthur C. Clarke's short story "Patent Pending," copyright 1957, in
> > which Clarke nicely prefigures "braintaping" and the 80's film "Brainstorm." A
> > very brief summary: someone has created a sensory-recorder, and the narrator is
> > describing a discussion of it.
> >
> > As an aside, this is interesting from a narrative standpoint, because the
> > narrator is retelling someone else's retelling or someone else's actions.
> >
> > Anyway, here's the bit that stumps me, from about three pages into the story:
> >
> > "All good ideas have been thought of by somebody before they are realised,"
> > said Purvis severely. "The point is that what Huxley and others had talked
> > about, Julian actually did. My goodness, there's a pun there!
> > Aldous--Julian--oh, let it pass!"
> >
> > This pun is lost on me. The only bell that it rings for me is from David
> > Bowie's long-format video "Jazzin' for Blue Jean," from 84 or 85. At the end of
> > it, one of Bowie's two characters is arguing with the director (Julien Temple)
> > about how the film has ended. Bowie says something that I always heard as "Oh
> > no, Julien" or "Auto Julien" (whatever that means), but now I wonder if Bowie
> > might have been making the same pun as Clarke. Independent evidence reveals
> > Bowie as a fan of "2001: A Space Odyssey," so it's possible that he's making a
> > deliberate reference to one of Clarke's lesser-known works.
> >
> > It's probably more likely that I am misremembering what I misheard 20+ years
> > ago.
> >
> > Regardless, does anyone understand the "Aldous--Julian" reference in "Patent
> > Pending?" If so, could you let me in on the joke?
>
> I'm not sure what the reference is. I did a little googling and came up with
> this anecdote:
>
> Aldous Huxley once found himself discussing genetics with his brother Julian, an
> eminent zoologist, who happened to use the phrase "aristocracy of genes." "You
> mean," Aldous asked, "blue genes?"
>
> I'm not sure that this is the pun Clarke is referring to.
>
> -Orion
I got it. It stuck me all at once.
For those who aren't Sci-Fi fans Aldous huxley wrote a book entitled "Brave New
World." The theme this of this book is the achievement of Utopia through
reproductive technology, eugenics and mind control.
As for the Julian part, Aldous Huxley's brother was name Julian. Julian was a
fairly prominant bioligist, a field that one would be in if one were performing
the deed of eugenics thorugh reproductive technology.
So the sentence "The point is that what Huxley and others had talked about,
Julian actually did" could be interpreted as "What Aldous wrote about, his
brother Julian actually carried out." A very clever play on words, if a bit
esoteric (although Clarke is well known to be esoteric at times).
-Orion
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: I don't get it
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| (...) I should have indicated both that Clarke mentions "Brave New World" by name within the text of "Patent Pending," but I didn't understand the brother-joke that you spell out below! (...) That makes perfect sense! Thanks for helping me out. (...) (20 years ago, 10-Mar-05, to lugnet.off-topic.pun)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: I don't get it
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| (...) I'm not sure what the reference is. I did a little googling and came up with this anecdote: Aldous Huxley once found himself discussing genetics with his brother Julian, an eminent zoologist, who happened to use the phrase "aristocracy of (...) (20 years ago, 10-Mar-05, to lugnet.off-topic.pun)
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