Aldous Leonard Huxley was an English writer and one of the most prominent members of the famous
Huxley familyThe Huxley family is a British family of which several members have excelled in scientific, medical, artistic, and literary fields. The family also includes members who occupied senior public positions in the service of the United Kingdom....
. Best known for his novels including
Brave New WorldBrave New World is Aldous Huxley's fifth novel, written in 1931 and published in 1932. Set in London of AD 2540 , the novel anticipates developments in reproductive technology and sleep-learning that combine to change society. The future society is an embodiment of the ideals that form the basis of...
and a wide-ranging output of essays, Huxley also edited the magazine
Oxford PoetryOxford Poetry is a literary magazine based in Oxford, England. It is currently edited by Hamid Khanbhai and Thomas A Richards.Founded in 1910 by Basil Blackwell, its editors have included Dorothy L...
, and published short stories, poetry, travel writing, and film stories and scripts. Huxley spent the later part of his life in the United States, living in Los Angeles from 1937 until his death.
Aldous Huxley was a
humanistHumanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In philosophy and social science, humanism is a perspective which affirms some notion of human nature, and is contrasted with anti-humanism....
, pacifist, and
satiristSatire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
, and he was latterly interested in spiritual subjects such as
parapsychologyThe term parapsychology was coined in or around 1889 by philosopher Max Dessoir, and originates from para meaning "alongside", and psychology. The term was adopted by J.B. Rhine in the 1930s as a replacement for the term psychical research...
and philosophical
mysticismMysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...
. He is also well known for advocating and taking
psychedelicsA psychedelic substance is a psychoactive drug whose primary action is to alter cognition and perception. Psychedelics are part of a wider class of psychoactive drugs known as hallucinogens, a class that also includes related substances such as dissociatives and deliriants...
.
By the end of his life Huxley was considered, in some academic circles, a leader of modern thought and an intellectual of the highest rank, and highly regarded as one of the most prominent explorers of visual communication and sight-related theories as well.
Early life
Aldous Huxley was born in
GodalmingGodalming is a town and civil parish in the Waverley district of the county of Surrey, England, south of Guildford. It is built on the banks of the River Wey and is a prosperous part of the London commuter belt. Godalming shares a three-way twinning arrangement with the towns of Joigny in France...
, Surrey, UK, in 1894. He was the third son of the writer and schoolmaster
Leonard HuxleyLeonard Huxley was an English schoolteacher, writer and editor.- Family :His father was the zoologist Thomas Henry Huxley, 'Darwin's bulldog'. Leonard was educated at University College School, London, St. Andrews University, and Balliol College, Oxford. He first married Julia Arnold, daughter of...
and his first wife, Julia Arnold, who founded Prior's Field School. Julia was the niece of poet and critic
Matthew ArnoldMatthew Arnold was a British poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools. He was the son of Thomas Arnold, the famed headmaster of Rugby School, and brother to both Tom Arnold, literary professor, and William Delafield Arnold, novelist and colonial administrator...
and the sister of
Mrs. Humphrey WardMary Augusta Ward née Arnold; , was a British novelist who wrote under her married name as Mrs Humphry Ward.- Early life:...
. Aldous was the grandson of Thomas Henry Huxley, the zoologist, agnostic and controversialist ("Darwin's Bulldog"). His brother
Julian HuxleySir Julian Sorell Huxley FRS was an English evolutionary biologist, humanist and internationalist. He was a proponent of natural selection, and a leading figure in the mid-twentieth century evolutionary synthesis...
and half-brother
Andrew HuxleySir Andrew Fielding Huxley, OM, FRS is an English physiologist and biophysicist, who won the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his experimental and mathematical work with Sir Alan Lloyd Hodgkin on the basis of nerve action potentials, the electrical impulses that enable the activity...
also became outstanding biologists. Aldous had another brother, Noel Trevelyan (1891–1914), who committed suicide after a period of clinical depression.
Huxley began his learning in his father's well-equipped botanical laboratory, then continued in a school named Hillside. His teacher was his mother who supervised him for several years until she became terminally ill. After Hillside, he was educated at
Eton CollegeEton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
. Huxley's mother died in 1908 when he was 14. In 1911, he suffered an illness (
keratitis punctataKeratitis is a condition in which the eye's cornea, the front part of the eye, becomes inflamed. The condition is often marked by moderate to intense pain and usually involves impaired eyesight.-Types:...
) which "left [him] practically blind for two to three years". Aldous's near-blindness disqualified him from service in the First World War. Once his eyesight recovered sufficiently, he was able to study English literature at
Balliol CollegeBalliol College , founded in 1263, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England but founded by a family with strong Scottish connections....
, Oxford. In 1916 he edited
Oxford PoetryOxford Poetry is a literary magazine based in Oxford, England. It is currently edited by Hamid Khanbhai and Thomas A Richards.Founded in 1910 by Basil Blackwell, its editors have included Dorothy L...
and later graduated (B.A.) with first class honours. His brother Julian wrote,
I believe his blindness was a blessing in disguise. For one thing, it put paid to his idea of taking up medicine as a career ... His uniqueness lay in his universalism. He was able to take all knowledge for his province.
Following his education at Balliol, Huxley was financially indebted to his father and had to earn a living. He taught French for a year at Eton, where Eric Blair (later to become
George OrwellEric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...
) and Stephen Runciman were among his pupils, but was remembered as an incompetent and hopeless teacher who couldn’t keep discipline. Nevertheless, Blair and others were impressed by his use of words. For a short while in 1918, he was employed acquiring provisions at the
Air MinistryThe Air Ministry was a department of the British Government with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964...
.
Significantly, Huxley also worked for a time in the 1920s at the technologically-advanced
Brunner and MondTata Chemicals Europe is a UK-based chemicals company that is a subsidiary of Tata Chemicals Limited, itself a part of the India-based Tata Group...
chemical plant in
BillinghamBillingham is a town in the unitary authority of Stockton on Tees, in north east England, with a population of 35,765 . It was founded circa 650 by a group of Saxons known as Billa's people, which is where the name Billingham is thought to have originated...
, Teesside, and the most recent introduction to his famous science fiction novel
Brave New WorldBrave New World is Aldous Huxley's fifth novel, written in 1931 and published in 1932. Set in London of AD 2540 , the novel anticipates developments in reproductive technology and sleep-learning that combine to change society. The future society is an embodiment of the ideals that form the basis of...
(1932) states that this experience of "an ordered universe in a world of planless incoherence" was one source for the novel.
Career
Huxley completed his first (unpublished) novel at the age of 17 and began writing seriously in his early 20s. His first published novels were social satires, beginning with
Crome YellowCrome Yellow is the first novel by British author Aldous Huxley. It was published in 1921. In the book, Huxley satirises the fads and fashions of the time. It is the witty story of a house party at "Crome"...
(1921).
Bloomsbury set
During the First World War, Huxley spent much of his time at
Garsington ManorGarsington Manor, in the village of Garsington, near Oxford, England, is a Tudor building, best known as the former home of Lady Ottoline Morrell, the Bloomsbury Group socialite...
, home of Lady Ottoline Morrell, working as a farm labourer. Here he met several
BloomsburyThe Bloomsbury Group or Bloomsbury Set was a group of writers, intellectuals, philosophers and artists who held informal discussions in Bloomsbury throughout the 20th century. This English collective of friends and relatives lived, worked or studied near Bloomsbury in London during the first half...
figures including
Bertrand RussellBertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, and social critic. At various points in his life he considered himself a liberal, a socialist, and a pacifist, but he also admitted that he had never been any of these things...
and
Clive BellArthur Clive Heward Bell was an English Art critic, associated with formalism and the Bloomsbury Group.- Origins :Clive Bell was born in East Shefford, Berkshire, in 1881...
. Later, in
Crome YellowCrome Yellow is the first novel by British author Aldous Huxley. It was published in 1921. In the book, Huxley satirises the fads and fashions of the time. It is the witty story of a house party at "Crome"...
(1921) he caricatured the Garsington lifestyle. In 1919 he married Maria Nys, a Belgian woman he met at Garsington; they had one son. The family lived in Italy part of the time in the 1920s, where Huxley would visit his friend
D. H. LawrenceDavid Herbert Richards Lawrence was an English novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, literary critic and painter who published as D. H. Lawrence. His collected works represent an extended reflection upon the dehumanising effects of modernity and industrialisation...
. Following Lawrence's death in 1930, Huxley edited Lawrence's letters (1933).
Works of this period included important novels on the dehumanising aspects of scientific progress, most famously
Brave New WorldBrave New World is Aldous Huxley's fifth novel, written in 1931 and published in 1932. Set in London of AD 2540 , the novel anticipates developments in reproductive technology and sleep-learning that combine to change society. The future society is an embodiment of the ideals that form the basis of...
, and on pacifist themes (for example,
Eyeless in GazaEyeless in Gaza is a bestselling novel by Aldous Huxley, first published in 1936. The title originates from a phrase in John Milton's Samson Agonistes:The chapters of the book are not ordered chronologically...
). In
Brave New World Huxley portrays a society operating on the principles of mass production and Pavlovian conditioning. Huxley was strongly influenced by F. Matthias Alexander and included him as a character in
Eyeless in Gaza.
Starting from this period, Huxley began to write and edit non-fiction works on pacifist issues, including
Ends and MeansEnds and Means is a book of essays written by Aldous Huxley. It was published in 1937. The book contains illuminating tracts on war, religion, nationalism and ethics, and was cited as a major influence on Thomas Merton in his autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain....
,
An Encyclopedia of Pacifism, and
Pacifism and Philosophy, and was an active member of the
Peace Pledge UnionThe Peace Pledge Union is a British pacifist non-governmental organization. It is open to everyone who can sign the PPU pledge: "I renounce war, and am therefore determined not to support any kind of war...
.
The U.S.
In 1937, Huxley moved to Hollywood, with his wife Maria, son Matthew, and friend
Gerald HeardHenry Fitzgerald Heard commonly called Gerald Heard was an historian, science writer, educator, and philosopher. He wrote many articles and over 35 books....
. He lived in the U.S., mainly in southern California, until his death, but also for a time in
Taos, New MexicoTaos is a town in Taos County in the north-central region of New Mexico, incorporated in 1934. As of the 2000 census, its population was 4,700. Other nearby communities include Ranchos de Taos, Cañon, Taos Canyon, Ranchitos, and El Prado. The town is close to Taos Pueblo, the Native American...
, where he wrote
Ends and MeansEnds and Means is a book of essays written by Aldous Huxley. It was published in 1937. The book contains illuminating tracts on war, religion, nationalism and ethics, and was cited as a major influence on Thomas Merton in his autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain....
(published in 1937). In this work he examines the fact that although most people in modern civilisation agree that they want a world of "liberty, peace, justice, and brotherly love", they have not been able to agree on how to achieve it.
Heard introduced Huxley to
VedantaVedānta was originally a word used in Hindu philosophy as a synonym for that part of the Veda texts known also as the Upanishads. The name is a morphophonological form of Veda-anta = "Veda-end" = "the appendix to the Vedic hymns." It is also speculated that "Vedānta" means "the purpose or goal...
(Upanishad-centered philosophy), meditation, and vegetarianism through the principle of
ahimsaAhimsa is a term meaning to do no harm . The word is derived from the Sanskrit root hims – to strike; himsa is injury or harm, a-himsa is the opposite of this, i.e. non harming or nonviolence. It is an important tenet of the Indian religions...
. In 1938 Huxley befriended J. Krishnamurti, whose teachings he greatly admired. He also became a Vedantist in the circle of Hindu
SwamiA swami sometimes abbreviated "Sw." is an ascetic or yogi who has been initiated into the religious monastic order founded by Adi Sankara, or to a religious teacher.The Oxford English Dictionary gives the etymology as...
PrabhavanandaSwami Prabhavananda was an Indian philosopher, monk of the Ramakrishna Order, and religious teacher.-Biography:...
, and introduced
Christopher IsherwoodChristopher William Bradshaw Isherwood was an English-American novelist.-Early life and work:Born at Wyberslegh Hall, High Lane, Cheshire in North West England, Isherwood spent his childhood in various towns where his father, a Lieutenant-Colonel in the British Army, was stationed...
to this circle. Not long after, Huxley wrote his book on widely held spiritual values and ideas,
The Perennial PhilosophyThe Perennial Philosophy is a 1945 book by Aldous Huxley, published by Harper & Row in the US. It was published in the UK in 1946 by Chatto & Windus.-Social and political context:...
, which discussed the teachings of renowned mystics of the world. Huxley's book affirmed a sensibility that insists there are realities beyond the generally accepted "five senses" and that there is genuine meaning for humans beyond both sensual satisfactions and sentimentalities.
Huxley became a close friend of Remsen Bird, president of
Occidental CollegeOccidental College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college located in the Eagle Rock neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1887, Occidental College, or "Oxy" as it is called by students and alumni, is one of the oldest liberal arts colleges on the West Coast...
. He spent much time at the college, which is in the Eagle Rock neighbourhood of Los Angeles. The college appears as "Tarzana College" in his satirical novel
After Many a SummerAfter Many a Summer is a novel by Aldous Huxley that tells the story of a Hollywood millionaire who fears his impending death; it was published in the United States as After Many a Summer Dies the Swan...
(1939). The novel won Huxley that year's
James Tait Black Memorial PrizeFounded in 1919, the James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are among the oldest and most prestigious book prizes awarded for literature written in the English language and are Britain's oldest literary awards...
for fiction. Huxley also incorporated Bird into the novel.
During this period Huxley earned some Hollywood income as a writer. In March 1938, his friend
Anita LoosAnita Loos was an American screenwriter, playwright and author.-Early life:Born Corinne Anita Loos in Sisson, California , where her father, R. Beers Loos, had opened a tabloid newspaper for which her mother, Minerva "Minnie" Smith did most of the work of a newspaper publisher...
, a novelist and screenwriter, put him in touch with
Metro-Goldwyn-MayerMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
who hired Huxley for
Madame Curie which was originally to star
Greta GarboGreta Garbo , born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson, was a Swedish film actress. Garbo was an international star and icon during Hollywood's silent and classic periods. Many of Garbo's films were sensational hits, and all but three were profitable...
and be directed by
George CukorGeorge Dewey Cukor was an American film director. He mainly concentrated on comedies and literary adaptations. His career flourished at RKO and later MGM, where he directed What Price Hollywood? , A Bill of Divorcement , Dinner at Eight , Little Women , David Copperfield , Romeo and Juliet and...
. (The film was eventually filmed by MGM in 1943 with a different director and stars.) Huxley received screen credit for
Pride and PrejudicePride and Prejudice is a 1940 film adaptation of Jane Austen's novel of the same name. Robert Z. Leonard directed, and Aldous Huxley served as one of the screenwriters of the film. It is adapted specifically from the stage adaptation by Helen Jerome in addition to Jane Austen's novel...
(1940) and was paid for his work on a number of other films, including
Jane EyreJane Eyre is a classic film adaptation of Charlotte Brontë's 1847 novel of the same name, made by 20th Century Fox. It was directed by Robert Stevenson and produced by William Goetz, Kenneth Macgowan, and Orson Welles . The screenplay was by John Houseman, Aldous Huxley, Henry Koster, and Robert...
(1944).
However, his experience in Hollywood was not a success. When he wrote a synopsis of
Alice in WonderlandAlice in Wonderland is a 1951 American animated feature produced by Walt Disney and based primarily on Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland with a few additional elements from Through the Looking-Glass. Thirteenth in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, the film was released in New...
,
Walt DisneyWalter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
rejected it on the grounds that "he could only understand every third word". Huxley's leisurely development of ideas, it seemed, was not suitable for the movie moguls, who demanded fast, dynamic dialogue above all else. For Dick Huemer, during the 1940s, Huxley went to the first of a five meetings' session to elaborate the script of
Alice in Wonderland but never came again. For author John Grant, although the movie's character the Caterpillar displays some characteristics familiar from Huxley's discussion of his experiments with hallucinogens, Huxley's contribution to the movie is nonexistent.
On 21 October 1949, Huxley wrote to
George OrwellEric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...
, author of
Nineteen Eighty-FourNineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell is a dystopian novel about Oceania, a society ruled by the oligarchical dictatorship of the Party...
, congratulating him on "how fine and how profoundly important the book is". In his letter to Orwell, he predicted:
Within the next generation I believe that the world's leaders will discover that infant conditioning and narco-hypnosis are more efficient, as instruments of government, than clubs and prisons, and that the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience.
Post World War II
After the Second World War, Huxley applied for United States citizenship. His application was continuously deferred on the grounds that he would not say he would take up arms to defend the U.S. He claimed a philosophical, rather than a religious objection, and therefore was not exempt under the McCarran Act. He withdrew his application. Nevertheless, he remained in the country; and in 1959 he turned down an offer of a
Knight BachelorThe rank of Knight Bachelor is a part of the British honours system. It is the most basic rank of a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not as a member of one of the organised Orders of Chivalry...
by the Macmillan government. During the 1950s Huxley's interest in the field of psychical research grew keener, and his later works are strongly influenced by both mysticism and his experiences with psychedelic drugs.
In October 1930, the English occultist
Aleister CrowleyAleister Crowley , born Edward Alexander Crowley, and also known as both Frater Perdurabo and The Great Beast, was an influential English occultist, astrologer, mystic and ceremonial magician, responsible for founding the religious philosophy of Thelema. He was also successful in various other...
dined with Huxley in Berlin, and to this day rumours persist that Crowley introduced Huxley to
peyoteLophophora williamsii , better known by its common name Peyote , is a small, spineless cactus with psychoactive alkaloids, particularly mescaline.It is native to southwestern Texas and Mexico...
on that occasion. He was introduced to
mescalineMescaline or 3,4,5-trimethoxyphenethylamine is a naturally occurring psychedelic alkaloid of the phenethylamine class used mainly as an entheogen....
(considered to be the key active ingredient of peyote) by the psychiatrist
Humphry OsmondHumphry Fortescue Osmond was a British psychiatrist known for inventing the word psychedelic and for using psychedelic drugs in medical research...
in 1953. Through Dr. Osmond, Huxley met millionaire
Alfred Matthew HubbardAlfred Matthew Hubbard was an early proponent for the drug LSD during the 1950s. He is reputed to have been the "Johnny Appleseed of LSD" and the first person to emphasize LSD's potential as a visionary or transcendental drug...
who would deal with
LSDLysergic acid diethylamide, abbreviated LSD or LSD-25, also known as lysergide and colloquially as acid, is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug of the ergoline family, well known for its psychological effects which can include altered thinking processes, closed and open eye visuals, synaesthesia, an...
on a wholesale basis. On 24 December 1955, Huxley took his first dose of LSD. Indeed, Huxley was a pioneer of self-directed psychedelic drug use "in a search for enlightenment", famously taking 100 micrograms of LSD as he lay dying. His psychedelic drug experiences are described in the essays
The Doors of PerceptionThe Doors of Perception is a 1954 book by Aldous Huxley detailing his experiences when taking mescaline. The book takes the form of Huxley’s recollection of a mescaline trip which took place over the course of an afternoon, and takes its title from William Blake's poem The Marriage of Heaven and Hell...
(the title deriving from some lines in the book
The Marriage of Heaven and HellThe Marriage of Heaven and Hell is a book by the English poet and printmaker William Blake. It is a series of texts written in imitation of biblical prophecy but expressing Blake's own intensely personal Romantic and revolutionary beliefs. Like his other books, it was published as printed sheets...
by
William BlakeWilliam Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age...
), and
Heaven and HellHeaven and Hell is a philosophical essay written by Aldous Huxley, and published in 1956. Huxley derived the title from William Blake's book The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. The essay discusses the relationship between bright, colorful objects, geometric designs, psychoactives, art, and profound...
. Some of his writings on psychedelics became frequent reading among early hippies. While living in Los Angeles, Huxley was a friend of
Ray BradburyRay Douglas Bradbury is an American fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mystery writer. Best known for his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 and for the science fiction stories gathered together as The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man , Bradbury is one of the most celebrated among 20th...
. According to Sam Weller's biography of Bradbury, the latter was dissatisfied with Huxley, especially after Huxley encouraged Bradbury to take psychedelic drugs.
Association with Vedanta
Beginning in 1939 and continuing until his death in 1963, Huxley had an extensive association with the Vedanta Society of Southern California, founded and headed by
Swami PrabhavanandaSwami Prabhavananda was an Indian philosopher, monk of the Ramakrishna Order, and religious teacher.-Biography:...
. Together with
Gerald HeardHenry Fitzgerald Heard commonly called Gerald Heard was an historian, science writer, educator, and philosopher. He wrote many articles and over 35 books....
,
Christopher IsherwoodChristopher William Bradshaw Isherwood was an English-American novelist.-Early life and work:Born at Wyberslegh Hall, High Lane, Cheshire in North West England, Isherwood spent his childhood in various towns where his father, a Lieutenant-Colonel in the British Army, was stationed...
, and other followers he was initiated by the Swami and was taught meditation and spiritual practices.
In 1944 Huxley wrote the introduction to the "Bhagavad Gita: The Song of God", translated by Swami Prabhavanada and Christopher Isherwood, which was published by The Vedanta Society of Southern California.
From 1941 through 1960 Huxley contributed 48 articles to
Vedanta and the West, published by the Society. He also served on the editorial board with Isherwood, Heard, and playwright John van Druten from 1951 through 1962.
Huxley also occasionally lectured at the Hollywood and Santa Barbara Vedanta temples. Two of those lectures have been released on CD:
Knowledge and Understanding and
Who Are We from 1955.
After the publication of
The Doors of PerceptionThe Doors of Perception is a 1954 book by Aldous Huxley detailing his experiences when taking mescaline. The book takes the form of Huxley’s recollection of a mescaline trip which took place over the course of an afternoon, and takes its title from William Blake's poem The Marriage of Heaven and Hell...
, Huxley and the Swami disagreed about the meaning and importance of the LSD drug experience, which may have caused the relationship to cool, but Huxley continued to write articles for the Society's journal, lecture at the temple, and attend social functions.
Eyesight
With respect to details about the true quality of Huxley's eyesight at specific points in his life, there are differing accounts. Around 1939, Huxley encountered the
Bates MethodThe Bates method is an alternative therapy aimed at improving eyesight. Eye-care physician William Horatio Bates attributed nearly all sight problems to habitual strain of the eyes, and felt that glasses were harmful and never necessary...
for better eyesight, and a teacher, Margaret Corbett, who was able to teach him in the method. In 1940, Huxley relocated from Hollywood to a 40 acres (161,874.4 m²)
ranchito in the high desert hamlet of
Llano, CaliforniaLlano is an unincorporated town located in Los Angeles County, California, near the San Bernardino Countyline. The town has a population of about 1200.- Geography :...
, in northernmost Los Angeles County. Huxley then said that his sight improved dramatically with the Bates Method and the extreme and pure natural lighting of the southwestern American desert. He reported that for the first time in over 25 years, he was able to read without glasses and without strain. He even tried driving a car along the dirt road beside the ranch. He wrote a book about his successes with the Bates Method,
The Art of SeeingThe Art of Seeing is a 1942 book by Aldous Huxley, which details his experience with and views on the controversial Bates method, which Huxley believed improved his eyesight.-Huxley’s own sight:...
, which was published in 1942 (US), 1943 (UK). It was from this period, with the publication of the generally disputed theories contained in the latter book, that a growing degree of popular controversy arose over the subject of Huxley’s eyesight.
It was, and to a noticeable extent still is, widely held that, for most of his life, since the illness in his teens which left Huxley nearly blind, that his eyesight was exceedingly poor (despite the partial recovery which had enabled him to study at Oxford). For instance, some ten years after publication of
The Art of Seeing, in 1952,
Bennett CerfBennett Alfred Cerf was a publisher and co-founder of Random House. Cerf was also known for his own compilations of jokes and puns, for regular personal appearances lecturing across the United States, and for his television appearances in the panel game show What's My Line?.-Biography:Bennett Cerf...
was present when Huxley spoke at a Hollywood banquet, wearing no glasses and apparently reading his paper from the lectern without difficulty: "Then suddenly he faltered—and the disturbing truth became obvious. He wasn't reading his address at all. He had learned it by heart. To refresh his memory he brought the paper closer and closer to his eyes. When it was only an inch or so away he still couldn't read it, and had to fish for a magnifying glass in his pocket to make the typing visible to him. It was an agonising moment."
On the other hand, Huxley's second wife, Laura Archera Huxley, would later emphasise in her biographical account,
This Timeless Moment: "One of the great achievements of his life: that of having regained his sight." Here, she portrays the accomplishment as both metaphorical and considerably physiological in nature, attributing that which she cites J. Krishnamurti as naming the spirit of "freedom from the known", which she suggests that Huxley applied, non-exhaustively, in writing
The Art of Seeing and utilising the Bates Method. After revealing a letter she wrote to the
Los Angeles Times disclaiming the label of Huxley as a "poor fellow who can hardly see" by
Walter C. AlvarezWalter Clement Alvarez was an American doctor of Spanish descent. He authored several dozen books on medicine, and wrote Introductions and Forewords for many others....
, she tempers this: "Although I feel it was an injustice to treat Aldous as though he were blind, it is true there were many indications of his impaired vision. For instance, although Aldous did not wear glasses, he would quite often use a magnifying lens." Laura Huxley proceeds to elaborate a few nuances of inconsistency peculiar to Huxley's vision. Her account, in this respect, is discernibly congruent with the following sample of Huxley's own words from
The Art of Seeing. "The most characteristic fact about the functioning of the total organism, or any part of the organism, is that it is not constant, but highly variable." Nevertheless, the topic of Huxley’s eyesight continues to endure similar, significant controversy, regardless of how trivial a subject matter it might initially appear.
Personal life
He married Maria Nys (10 September 1899 – 12 February 1955), a Belgian he met at Garsington, in 1919. They had one child,
Matthew HuxleyMatthew Huxley was a prominent epidemiologist and anthropologist, as well as an educator and author. His work ranged from promoting universal health care to establishing standards of care for nursing home patients and the mentally ill to investigating the question of what is a socially...
(19 April 1920 – 10 February 2005), who had a career as an author, anthropologist, and prominent
epidemiologistEpidemiology is the study of health-event, health-characteristic, or health-determinant patterns in a population. It is the cornerstone method of public health research, and helps inform policy decisions and evidence-based medicine by identifying risk factors for disease and targets for preventive...
. In 1955, Maria died of breast cancer.
In 1956 he married
Laura ArcheraLaura Huxley was a musician, author, psychological counselor and lecturer.-Life and work:...
(1911–2007), also an author. She wrote
This Timeless Moment, a biography of Huxley. In 1960 Huxley himself was diagnosed with laryngeal cancer, and in the years that followed, with his health deteriorating, he wrote the Utopian novel
IslandIsland is the final book by English writer Aldous Huxley, published in 1962. It is the account of Will Farnaby, a cynical journalist who is shipwrecked on the fictional island of Pala. Island is Huxley's utopian counterpart to his most famous work, the 1932 novel Brave New World, itself often...
, and gave lectures on "Human Potentialities" at the Esalen institute, which were fundamental to the forming of the
Human Potential MovementThe Human Potential Movement arose out of the social and intellectual milieu of the 1960s and formed around the concept of cultivating extraordinary potential that its advocates believed to lie largely untapped in all people...
.
Death
On his deathbed, unable to speak, Huxley made a written request to his wife Laura for "LSD, 100 µg, intramuscular". According to her account of his death in
This Timeless Moment, she obliged with an injection at 11:45 am and another a couple of hours later. He died, aged 69, at 5:20 pm on 22 November 1963, several hours after the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Huxley's ashes were interred in the family grave at the Watts Cemetery, home of the
Watts Mortuary ChapelThe Watts Mortuary Chapel is a Gothic Revival chapel and mortuary located in the village of Compton in Surrey.As a follower of the Home Arts and Industries Association, set up by Earl Brownlow in 1885 to encourage handicrafts among the lower classes, when Compton Parish Council created a new...
in Compton, a village near
GuildfordGuildford is the county town of Surrey. England, as well as the seat for the borough of Guildford and the administrative headquarters of the South East England region...
, Surrey, England.
Media coverage of Huxley's passing was overshadowed by the
assassination of President John F. KennedyJohn Fitzgerald Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, was assassinated at 12:30 p.m. Central Standard Time on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas...
, on the same day, and the death of the British author
C. S. LewisClive Staples Lewis , commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis and known to his friends and family as "Jack", was a novelist, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian and Christian apologist from Belfast, Ireland...
, who also died on 22 November. This coincidence was the inspiration for
Peter KreeftPeter John Kreeft, Ph.D., is a professor of philosophy at Boston College and The King's College, and author of numerous books as well as a popular writer on philosophy, Christian theology, and specifically Catholic apologetics. He also formulated together with Ronald K. Tacelli, SJ, "Twenty...
's book
Between Heaven and Hell: A Dialog Somewhere Beyond Death with John F. Kennedy, C. S. Lewis, & Aldous HuxleyBetween Heaven and Hell: A Dialog Somewhere Beyond Death with John F. Kennedy, C. S. Lewis, & Aldous Huxley is a fiction novel by Peter Kreeft about U.S. President John F. Kennedy, and authors C. S. Lewis and Aldous Huxley meeting in Purgatory and engaging in a philosophical discussion on faith...
. Huxley's literary legacy continues to be represented by the literary agency headed by
Georges BorchardtGeorges Borchardt is a well-respected literary agent in America; he has represented figures ranging from General Charles de Gaulle to Jane Fonda.-Early life:...
.
Awards
- 1939 James Tait Black Memorial Prize
Founded in 1919, the James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are among the oldest and most prestigious book prizes awarded for literature written in the English language and are Britain's oldest literary awards...
for After Many a Summer Dies the Swan.
- 1959 Aldous Huxley American Academy of Arts and Letters Award of Merit for Brave New World.
- 1962 the Companion of Literature by the Royal Society of Literature
The Royal Society of Literature is the "senior literary organisation in Britain". It was founded in 1820 by George IV, in order to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". The Society's first president was Thomas Burgess, who later became the Bishop of Salisbury...
.
Film adaptations of Huxley's work
- 1968 Point Counter Point
Point Counter Point is a novel by Aldous Huxley, first published in 1928. It is Huxley's longest novel, and was notably more complex and serious than his earlier fiction....
BBC mini-series by Simon Raven.
- 1971 The Devils
The Devils is a 1971 British historical drama directed by Ken Russell and starring Oliver Reed and Vanessa Redgrave. It is based partially on the 1952 book The Devils of Loudun by Aldous Huxley, and partially on the 1960 play The Devils by John Whiting, also based on Huxley's book...
(Ken RussellHenry Kenneth Alfred "Ken" Russell was an English film director, known for his pioneering work in television and film and for his flamboyant and controversial style. He attracted criticism as being obsessed with sexuality and the church...
) adapted Huxley's The Devils of LoudunThe Devils of Loudun is a 1952 non-fiction novel by Aldous Huxley. It is a historical narrative of supposed demonic possession, religious fanaticism, sexual repression, and mass hysteria which occurred in 17th century France surrounding unexplained events that took place in the small town of...
.
- 1998 US TV adaptation of Brave New World
Brave New World is a 1998 television movie loosely based on Aldous Huxley's novel Brave New World. The film stars Peter Gallagher and Leonard Nimoy...
Novels
- Crome Yellow
Crome Yellow is the first novel by British author Aldous Huxley. It was published in 1921. In the book, Huxley satirises the fads and fashions of the time. It is the witty story of a house party at "Crome"...
(1921)
- Antic Hay
Antic Hay is a comic novel by Aldous Huxley, published in 1923. The story takes place in London, and depicts the aimless or self-absorbed cultural elite in the sad and turbulent times following the end of World War I....
(1923)
- Those Barren Leaves
Those Barren Leaves is a satirical novel by Aldous Huxley, published in 1925. The title is derived from the poem 'The Tables Turned' by William Wordsworth which ends with the words:...
(1925)
- Point Counter Point
Point Counter Point is a novel by Aldous Huxley, first published in 1928. It is Huxley's longest novel, and was notably more complex and serious than his earlier fiction....
(1928)
- Brave New World
Brave New World is Aldous Huxley's fifth novel, written in 1931 and published in 1932. Set in London of AD 2540 , the novel anticipates developments in reproductive technology and sleep-learning that combine to change society. The future society is an embodiment of the ideals that form the basis of...
(1932)
- Eyeless in Gaza
Eyeless in Gaza is a bestselling novel by Aldous Huxley, first published in 1936. The title originates from a phrase in John Milton's Samson Agonistes:The chapters of the book are not ordered chronologically...
(1936)
- After Many a Summer
After Many a Summer is a novel by Aldous Huxley that tells the story of a Hollywood millionaire who fears his impending death; it was published in the United States as After Many a Summer Dies the Swan...
(1939)
- Time Must Have a Stop (1944)
- Ape and Essence
Ape and Essence is a novel by Aldous Huxley, published by Chatto & Windus in the UK and Harper & Brothers in the US. It is set in a dystopia, similar to that in Brave New World, Huxley's more famous work...
(1948)
- The Genius and the Goddess
The Genius and the Goddess is a novel by Aldous Huxley. It was published by Chatto & Windus in the UK and by Harper & Row in the US. It is the fictional account of John Rivers, a student physicist in the 1920s who was hired out of college as a laboratory assistant to Henry Maartens.-Plot...
(1955)
- Island
Island is the final book by English writer Aldous Huxley, published in 1962. It is the account of Will Farnaby, a cynical journalist who is shipwrecked on the fictional island of Pala. Island is Huxley's utopian counterpart to his most famous work, the 1932 novel Brave New World, itself often...
(1962)
Short story collections
- Limbo
Limbo , Aldous Huxley's first collection of short fiction, consists of six short stories and a play.*"Farcical History of Richard Greenow"*"Happily Ever After"*"Eupompus Gave Splendour to Art by Numbers"*"Happy Families" *"Cynthia"...
(1920)
- Mortal Coils
Mortal Coils is a collection of five short fictional pieces written by Aldous Huxley in 1922.The title uses a phrase from Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1:...
(1922)
- Little Mexican
Little Mexican , Aldous Huxley's third collection of short fiction, consists of the following six short stories:*"Uncle Spencer"*"Little Mexican"*"Hubert and Minnie"*"Fard"*"The Portrait"...
(U.S. title: Young Archimedes) (1924)
- Two or Three Graces
Two or Three Graces , Aldous Huxley's fourth collection of short fiction, consists of the following four short pieces:*"Two or Three Graces"*"Half Holiday"*"The Monocle"*"Fairy Godmother"...
(1926)
- Brief Candles
thumb|1st edition cover Brief Candles , Aldous Huxley's fifth collection of short fiction, consists of the following four short stories:*"Chawdron"*"The Rest Cure"*"The Claxtons"*"After the Fireworks"...
(1930)
- Jacob's Hands: A Fable (discovered 1997) co-written with Christopher Isherwood
Christopher William Bradshaw Isherwood was an English-American novelist.-Early life and work:Born at Wyberslegh Hall, High Lane, Cheshire in North West England, Isherwood spent his childhood in various towns where his father, a Lieutenant-Colonel in the British Army, was stationed...
- Collected Short Stories
The Collected Short Stories of Aldous Huxley consists of twenty stories compiled from five of Huxley's earlier collections and one from his novel Crome Yellow.Limbo :*"Happily Ever After"*"Eupompus Gave Splendour to Art by Numbers"...
(1944)
Poetry collections
- Oxford Poetry
Oxford Poetry is a literary magazine based in Oxford, England. It is currently edited by Hamid Khanbhai and Thomas A Richards.Founded in 1910 by Basil Blackwell, its editors have included Dorothy L...
(magazine editor) (1916)
- The Burning Wheel (1916)
- Jonah (1917)
- The Defeat of Youth and Other Poems (1918)
- Leda (1920)
- Selected Poems (1925)
- Arabia Infelix and Other Poems (1929)
- The Cicadas and Other Poems (1931)
- Collected Poems (1971, posthumous)
Essay collections
- On the Margin (1923)
- Along the Road (1925)
- Essays New and Old (1926)
- Proper Studies (1927)
- Do What You Will (1929)
- Vulgarity in Literature (1930)
- Music at Night
Music at Night is a 1931 collection of essays by Aldous Huxley.The essays in this books cover different subjects, such as morality in arts Music at Night is a 1931 collection of essays by Aldous Huxley.The essays in this books cover different subjects, such as morality in arts Music at Night is a...
(1931)
- Texts and Pretexts (1932)
- The Olive Tree and other essays (1936)
- Ends and Means
Ends and Means is a book of essays written by Aldous Huxley. It was published in 1937. The book contains illuminating tracts on war, religion, nationalism and ethics, and was cited as a major influence on Thomas Merton in his autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain....
(1937)
- Words and their Meanings (1940)
- The Art of Seeing
The Art of Seeing is a 1942 book by Aldous Huxley, which details his experience with and views on the controversial Bates method, which Huxley believed improved his eyesight.-Huxley’s own sight:...
(1942)
- The Perennial Philosophy
The Perennial Philosophy is a 1945 book by Aldous Huxley, published by Harper & Row in the US. It was published in the UK in 1946 by Chatto & Windus.-Social and political context:...
(1945)
- Science, Liberty and Peace
Science Liberty and Peace is an essay written by Aldous Huxley, published in 1946. The essay is an opinionated discussion covering a wide range of subjects reflecting Huxley's views towards society at that time...
(1946)
- Themes and Variations (1950)
- The Doors of Perception
The Doors of Perception is a 1954 book by Aldous Huxley detailing his experiences when taking mescaline. The book takes the form of Huxley’s recollection of a mescaline trip which took place over the course of an afternoon, and takes its title from William Blake's poem The Marriage of Heaven and Hell...
(1954)
- Heaven and Hell
Heaven and Hell is a philosophical essay written by Aldous Huxley, and published in 1956. Huxley derived the title from William Blake's book The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. The essay discusses the relationship between bright, colorful objects, geometric designs, psychoactives, art, and profound...
(1956)
- Adonis and the Alphabet (U.S. title: Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow) (1956)
- Collected Essays (1958)
- Brave New World Revisited (1958)
- Literature and Science (1963)
- Moksha: Writings on Psychedelics and the Visionary Experience 1931–63 (1977)
- The Human Situation: Lectures at Santa Barbara, 1959 (1977)
Screenplays
- Brave New World
Brave New World is Aldous Huxley's fifth novel, written in 1931 and published in 1932. Set in London of AD 2540 , the novel anticipates developments in reproductive technology and sleep-learning that combine to change society. The future society is an embodiment of the ideals that form the basis of...
- Ape and Essence
Ape and Essence is a novel by Aldous Huxley, published by Chatto & Windus in the UK and Harper & Brothers in the US. It is set in a dystopia, similar to that in Brave New World, Huxley's more famous work...
- Pride and Prejudice (Collaboration. 1940)
- Madame Curie
Madame Curie is a 1943 biographical film made by MGM. It was directed by Mervyn LeRoy and produced by Sidney Franklin from a screenplay by Paul Osborn, Paul H. Rameau, and Aldous Huxley , adapted from the biography by Eve Curie....
(Collaboration. 1943)
- Jane Eyre (Collaboration with John Houseman
John Houseman was a Romanian-born British-American actor and film producer who became known for his highly publicized collaboration with director Orson Welles from their days in the Federal Theatre Project through to the production of Citizen Kane...
. 1944)
- A Woman's Vengeance
A Woman's Vengeance is a film directed by Zoltán Korda, with a screenplay by Aldous Huxley based on his short story "The Gioconda Smile", and starring Charles Boyer, Ann Blyth, Jessica Tandy, Cedric Hardwicke, Rachel Kempson, and Mildred Natwick. The film was released by Universal Studios....
1947
- Original screenplay for Disney's animated Alice in Wonderland
Alice in Wonderland is a 1951 American animated feature produced by Walt Disney and based primarily on Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland with a few additional elements from Through the Looking-Glass. Thirteenth in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, the film was released in New...
1951 (rejected)
- Eyeless in Gaza
Eyeless in Gaza is a bestselling novel by Aldous Huxley, first published in 1936. The title originates from a phrase in John Milton's Samson Agonistes:The chapters of the book are not ordered chronologically...
BBC Mini-series (Collaboration with Robin Chapman-Biography:Chapman began his career as an actor at Cambridge before holding a spear at Stratford-Upon-Avon, working in repertory and then joining Joan Littlewood’s revolutionary Theatre Workshop where he turned to writing. Among his stage plays are High Street China, Guests and One of Us...
. Aired 1971)
Travel books
- Along The Road: Notes and essays of a tourist (1925)
- Jesting Pilate: The Diary of a Journey (1926)
- Beyond the Mexique Bay: A Traveller's Journey
Beyond the Mexique Bay is a travel book by Aldous Huxley, first published in 1934. In it, he describes his experiences traveling through the Caribbean to Guatemala and southern Mexico in 1933....
(1934)
Children's fiction
- The Crows of Pearblossom
The Crows of Pearblossom is a children's book written by Aldous Huxley, the famous English novelist, essayist and critic. The story was originally published by Random House and illustrated by Barbara Cooney...
(1967)
- The Travails and Tribulations of Geoffrey Peacock (1967)
Drama
- The Discovery (adapted from Francis Sheridan, 1924)
- The World of Light (1931)
- Mortal Coils – A Play. (Stage version of The Gioconda Smile, 1948)
- The Genius and the Goddess (stage version, co-written with Betty Wendel, 1958)
- The Ambassador of Captripedia (1967)
- Now More Than Ever (Huxley's lost play discovered in 2000 in the University of Münster, Germany's Department of English Literature)
Articles written for Vedanta and the West
- Distractions (1941)
- Distractions II (1941)
- Action and Contemplation (1941)
- An Appreciation (1941)
- The Yellow Mustard (1941)
- Lines (1941)
- Some Reflections of the Lord's Prayer (1941)
- Reflections of the Lord's Prayer (1942)
- Reflections of the Lord's Prayer II (1942)
- Words and Reality (1942)
- Readings in Mysticism (1942)
- Man and Reality (1942)
- The Magical and the Spiritual (1942)
- Religion and Time (1943)
- Idolatry (1943)
- Religion and Temperament (1943)
- A Note on the Bhagavatam (1943)
- Seven Meditations (1943)
- On a Sentence From Shakespeare (1944)
- The Minimum Working Hypothesis (1944)
- From a Notebook (1944)
- The Philosophy of the Saints (1944)
- That Art Thou (1945)
- That Art Thou II (1945)
- The Nature of the Ground (1945)
- The Nature of the Ground II (1945)
- God In the World (1945)
- Origins and Consequences of Some Contemporary Thought-Patterns (1946)
- The Sixth Patriarch (1946)
- Some Reflections on Time (1946)
- Reflections on Progress (1947)
- Further Reflections on Progress (1947)
- William Law (1947)
- Notes on Zen (1947)
- Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread (1948)
- A Note on Gandhi (1948)
- Art and Religion (1949)
- Foreword to an Essay on the Indian Philosophy of Peace (1950)
- A Note on Enlightenment (1952)
- Substitutes for Liberation (1952)
- The Desert (1954)
- A Note on Patanjali (1954)
- Who Are We? (1955)
- Foreword to the Supreme Doctrine (1956)
- Knowledge and Understanding (1956)
- The "Inanimate" is Alive (1957)
- Symbol and Immediate Experience (1960)
Other
- Pacifism and Philosophy (1936)
- An Encyclopedia of Pacifism (editor, 1937)
- Grey Eminence
Grey Eminence: A Study in Religion and Politics is a book by Aldous Huxley published in 1941. It is a biography of François Leclerc du Tremblay, the French monk who served as advisor to Cardinal de Richelieu. He was also known as Father Joseph and as l'éminence grise; that phrase originally...
(1941)
- The Devils of Loudun
The Devils of Loudun is a 1952 non-fiction novel by Aldous Huxley. It is a historical narrative of supposed demonic possession, religious fanaticism, sexual repression, and mass hysteria which occurred in 17th century France surrounding unexplained events that took place in the small town of...
(1953)
- The Politics of Ecology (1962)
- Selected Letters (2007)
Further reading
- Atkins, John. Aldous Huxley: A Literary Study, J. Calder, 1956
- Bedford, Sybille
Sybille Bedford, OBE was a German-born English writer. Many of her works are partly autobiographical. Julia Neuberger proclaimed her "the finest woman writer of the 20th century" while Bruce Chatwin saw her as "one of the most dazzling practitioners of modern English prose".-Early life:She was...
. Aldous Huxley: A Biography, Harper and Row, 1974, rev. ed., Ivan R. Dee, 2002 ISBN 1566634547
- Dunaway, David King
David King Dunaway is Professor of English and Communications at the University of New Mexico, Department of English. He is Pete Seeger's biographer, and a national expert on oral history, folk music, and Route 66.- Books :...
. Huxley in Hollywood, HarperCollins 1990, ISBN 0385415915
- Huxley, Aldous. The Human Situation: Aldous Huxley Lectures at Santa Barbara 1959, Flamingo Modern Classic, 1994, ISBN 0006547327
- Huxley, Laura Archera. This Timeless Moment, Celestial Arts, 2001, ISBN 0890879689
- Meckier, Jerome. Aldous Huxley: modern satirical novelist of ideas, Firchow and Nugel editors, LIT Verlag Berlin-Hamburg-Münster, 2006, ISBN 3825896683
- Murray, Nicholas. Aldous Huxley, Macmillan, 2003, ISBN 0312302375
- Rolo, Charles J. (ed.). The World of Aldous Huxley, Grosset Universal Library, 1947.
- Sexton, James (ed.). Aldous Huxley: Selected Letters, Ivan R. Dee, 2007, ISBN 1566636292
- Sawyer, Dana
Dana Sawyer was born in Jonesport, Maine in 1951. Currently he is a full-time professor of religion and philosophy at the Maine College of Art and an adjunct professor of Asian religions at the Bangor Theological Seminary...
. Aldous Huxley, Crossroad Publishing Co., 2002, ISBN 0824519872
- Watt, Conrad (ed.). Aldous Huxley, Routledge, 1997, ISBN 0415159159
External links