All Topics  
Antic Hay

 
Antic Hay

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Antic Hay
 
 
  Topics Antic Hay Topic Home

Antic Hay is a comic novel by Aldous Huxley
Aldous Huxley

Aldous Leonard Huxley was an English writer and one of the most prominent members of the famous Huxley family. He spent the later part of his life in the United States, living in Los Angeles from 1937 until his death in 1963....
, published in 1923. The story takes place in London
London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
, and depicts the aimless or self-absorbed cultural elite in the sad and turbulent times following the end of World War I
World War I

World War I, or the First World War , was a global military conflict which involved the Great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War I and the Central Powers....
.

The book follows the lives of a diverse cast of characters in bohemian
Bohemianism

The term bohemian, of French origin, was first used in the English language in the nineteenth century to describe the untraditional lifestyles of marginalized and impoverished artists, writers, musicians, and actors in major European cities....
, artistic and intellectual
Intellectual

An intellectual is a person who uses his or her intelligence and Critical thinking, either in their profession or for the benefit of personal pursuits....
 circles. It clearly demonstrates Huxley's ability to dramatise intellectual debate in fiction and has been called a "novel of ideas" rather than people.

It expresses a mood of mournful disenchantment and reinforced Huxley's reputation as an iconoclast.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Antic Hay'
Start a new discussion about 'Antic Hay'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Antic Hay is a comic novel by Aldous Huxley
Aldous Huxley

Aldous Leonard Huxley was an English writer and one of the most prominent members of the famous Huxley family. He spent the later part of his life in the United States, living in Los Angeles from 1937 until his death in 1963....
, published in 1923. The story takes place in London
London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
, and depicts the aimless or self-absorbed cultural elite in the sad and turbulent times following the end of World War I
World War I

World War I, or the First World War , was a global military conflict which involved the Great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War I and the Central Powers....
.

The book follows the lives of a diverse cast of characters in bohemian
Bohemianism

The term bohemian, of French origin, was first used in the English language in the nineteenth century to describe the untraditional lifestyles of marginalized and impoverished artists, writers, musicians, and actors in major European cities....
, artistic and intellectual
Intellectual

An intellectual is a person who uses his or her intelligence and Critical thinking, either in their profession or for the benefit of personal pursuits....
 circles. It clearly demonstrates Huxley's ability to dramatise intellectual debate in fiction and has been called a "novel of ideas" rather than people.

It expresses a mood of mournful disenchantment and reinforced Huxley's reputation as an iconoclast. The book was condemned for its cynicism and for its immorality because of its open debate on sex. The novel was banned for a while in Australia and burned in Cairo.

Superficially the story follows one Theodore Gumbril in his invention of Gumbril's Patent Small-Clothes, trousers which contain a pneumatic cushion in the seat.

Gumbril's quest for love occasionally makes him resort to utilizing "The Complete Man" which is a disguise he concocts around a false full beard. With it he is able to overcome his shyness and approach women in public places with a bold directness. However he is then left with the problem of how he reveals his real self to the women he befriends.

It was written just after Huxley and his wife moved to Italy where they lived from 1923 to 1927.

The title is from the play Edward II
Edward II (play)

Edward II is a Renaissance or Early Modern period play written by Christopher Marlowe. It is one of the earliest English history plays. The full title of the first publication is The Troublesome Reign and Lamentable Death of Edward the Second, King of England, with the Tragical Fall of Proud Mortimer....
 by Christopher Marlowe
Christopher Marlowe

Christopher "Kit" Marlowe was an Kingdom of England Playwright, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. The foremost English Renaissance theatre tragedy next to William Shakespeare, he is known for his blank verse, his overreaching protagonists, and his own mysterious and untimely death....
 c1593. Act One, Scene One, "My men, like satyrs grazing on the lawn, shall with their goat feet dance an antic hay" which is quoted on the frontispiece. "Antic hay", here, refers to a playful dance.

The manuscripts for the novel are part of the collection of the University of Houston Library.

The novel was mentioned briefly in Evelyn Waugh
Evelyn Waugh

Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh was a United Kingdom writer, best known for such darkly humorous and Satire novels as Decline and Fall, Vile Bodies, Scoop , A Handful of Dust, and The Loved One, as well as for serious works, such as Brideshead Revisited and the Sword of Honour trilogy that clearly manifest his Catho...
's classic novel Brideshead Revisited
Brideshead Revisited

Brideshead Revisited, The Sacred & Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder is a novel by the English writer Evelyn Waugh, first published in 1945....
 (1945):