Rereading a particular book that enticed a reader some year ago may be a fascinating adventure. I remember reading Aldous Huxley (1894 – 1963) novel Point Counter Point about fifty years ago, as it happened to be a work discussed at the time by a generation of book lovers of the time. The work, despite being bulky and 475 page-count with 37 chapters, is a readable narrative. It was one of the most amusing pieces of writing packed with the witty dialogue centred around a group of well to do people who constantly throw parties.
They discuss matters related to the postwar period of boredom and at times reach a climax in a theatrical scene. The group of people is portrayed as ironic in their behaviour patterns. Out of all these characters, a person known as Lord Edward entertains the rest of the guests who come to see him, as his wife Lady Edward, in the spacious hall in the great big mansion. As dialogue ensues, the reader sensitively captures the inner life of these characters that interact with each other.
Human expressionism
But Huxley does not try to write a murder story or a crime and mystery story. The intention is much of an elevated expression of human events. As such, the novelist Aldous Huxley in his expressions via his portraits, attempt to present humans certain dehumanized situations.
As English literary critics of the time point out the name of Aldous Huxley became popular from the late 1920s. As the critic Cyril Connolly pointed out, the creative success of Huxley rested on the witty, serious, observant, well read, sensitive, intelligent manner in which he expressed. There can have been few young writers as gifted as Huxley. The writer Huxley was educated at Eton and Balliol, and before devoting himself entirely to writing worked as a journalist and dramatic critic.
Apart from the novel, Point Counter Point, his work that came to be discussed in literary circles happened to be titled as Those Barren Leaves written in 1925. This too centres round an incongruous group fo people as observed living in social unrest. The background of the sophisticated novel is sunny Italy that was frequented by the writer D H Lawrence who wrote a book titled Twilight in Italy. The work of Huxley includes a poet who to earn living edits a little magazine titled as Rabbit Fancier’s Gazette. As events move the reader feels that the poet is encountered by an amorist named Calmny. The poet unknowingly attempts to discuss matters with him resulting in the search for poetic material. It is recorded that Leonard Woolf, known to us for his work A Village in the Jungle, had written to the periodical known as ‘Nation’ about the work that goes as it is brilliant and daring, admirably written humorously witty clever cultured.
Fantasy genre
In 1932, Huxley’s turning point in writing career happened to be a novel titled Brave New World. This world is categorized into the genre of fantasy. Its impact on the modern world has been considerable though in context it did not embrace the science fiction type of narrative. The intention of Huxley seems to be an investigation into the future in order to show the reader the life of an oncoming future world thousands of years hence. I wonder whether Huxley, like HG Wells, attempted to predict the nature of the future human beings.
As noted, written in the 1930s, when – whatever the immediate outlook may have been – people believed that ultimately all would be for the best in the best of all possible worlds, this creative work perhaps a warning against such optimism. Huxley, drawing parallels from two human existences tries to satirise the lofty idea of ‘human progress’ what we now discern as social development. He draws attention to views put forward by scientists and philosophers of his time.
Brave New World too happens to be an indication of the impending disasters of the new technologies. There are references to the test tube babies and several medical discoveries that had not been unheard of at the time of Huxley’s creativity. In order to listen to various types of people living around the globe, Huxley admired travelling and keeping notes of his own thinking as the thought process of others. This resulted in a much-discussed travelogue, titled as Beyond the Mexique Bay written and published in 1934 as we see good travel books are scarce since they can be written by exceptional travellers.
Interesting travelogue
Huxley never attempts to write long descriptions. Instead, he had the cultivated habit of using the dialogue and situational events in his narrative line. As a reader, I found Huxley’s travelogue resembling the work of Somerset Maugham’s ‘Summing Up’ and ‘A Writer’s Notebook’ that laid down the creative spirit and process of many a work of Maugham. Having had time to go through the work of Huxley, titled Eyeless in Gaza written in 1956, I felt that it is a mix of philosophy and creativity.
As observed by the biographer of Aldous Huxley, there had been quite a number of moments where he had been drawn to oriental religious prophecies. In this work, Huxley shows how spiritualism could bring about varying degrees of human thinking. The story that envelops the work tells of his successive attempts to find a satisfactory centre and meaning for his life and his eventual discovery that the real liberty he seeks is to be found through the discipline that leads to a wider spiritual conscience.
Perhaps Huxley had been constantly experimenting with spiritualism that he would be misunderstood for writing a work titled as Doors of Perception wherein he is depicted as using a certain mental stimulant, a plant named mescalin. As a reader, I just felt that herein lies the amalgamation of the spiritualist and the creator. He does not promote the use of drugs nor does he say that they should be totally prohibited. All that he says is the use of certain drugs could lead to the understanding of human thoughts.
Finally, I wish to pen a few views on his novel titled as ‘After Many a Summer’ written in 1939. This narrative like his Brave New World depicts a kind of a fantastic parable. It looks as if Huxley had newly discovered the use of the age-old parable to see through the various nuances of human existence. The narrative rests partly in America and partly in England. A rich man is shown in the attempt to prolong his lifespan indefinitely. But how far he is successful is the vision embedded. The inner layer of this attempt visualizes that the man is given a specified period to lead a life. Huxley believed it is the pious (not his words) means of living helps an individual to reach longevity. The ultimate vision is the depiction of all good over evil defeats barriers to living. As critics have often pointed out the work treats of the ultimate topic of philosophy, bondage and liberation reality and illusion, the problem of good, the nature of evil.
Add new comment