Aldous Huxley

Aldous Huxley was a grandson of the famous scientist T. H. Huxley and brother of the brother of the biologist, Julian Huxley. His mother was an Arnold. He thus belonged on both sides of his family to the distinguished intellectual aristocracy which included such families at the Russells, Darwins an Arnolds. After a brief period of teaching he devoted himself himself early to writing and, like Wells before him, became the ?typical? writer of his generation, a major influence on his...
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Aldous Huxley was a grandson of the famous scientist T. H. Huxley and brother of the brother of the biologist, Julian Huxley. His mother was an Arnold. He thus belonged on both sides of his family to the distinguished intellectual aristocracy which included such families at the Russells, Darwins an Arnolds. After a brief period of teaching he devoted himself himself early to writing and, like Wells before him, became the ?typical? writer of his generation, a major influence on his contemporaries. Isaiah Berlin has described him as ?one of the great culture heroes of our youth?. His combination of wit and learning, reminiscent of Peacock to whom Huxley owed much, is rare in English fiction and proved a stimulating contrast to those brought up on Galsworthy, Bennett and Wells.

In the course of his life Huxley published poems, novels, short stories, a biography and a large number of essays on sociology, philosophy, travel and many other subjects. He also wrote two studies dealing with the effects of mescalin and lysergic acid (LSD), The Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell. He was deeply interested in the interaction of body and mind, the psychological roots of social and individual behaviour. His novels include Crome Yellow, Antic Hay, and Point Counter Point, an attempt to create multiple vision of life comparable to counterpoint in music. Point Counter Point, like others of his novels, included many sketched of his friends including the famous portrait of D. H. Lawrence as Mark Rampion. His last novel, Island (1962) was, like Brave New World, another of his novels, a profoundly pessimistic fantasy of the future.

Jocelyn Brooke, author of this essay, began his own writing career in 1946 with December Spring, a book of poems. This was followed by an autobiographical series, The Military Orchid, A Mine of Serpents and The Goose Cathedral. His other works include The Image of a Drawn Sword, The Passing of a Hero and a work on The Wild Orchids of Britain. He died in 1967.