Aldous huxley biography brave new world

When Aldous Huxley passed away in 1963, his death was relatively little commented upon, coinciding as it did with the rather more shocking assassination of John F.

Kennedy. A dark vision of the future, it is widely regarded as one of the greatest novels of the 20th century. Nonetheless, his was a life of principle and productivity, the legacy of which lives on to this day.

(1894-1963)

Who Was Aldous Huxley?

After a serious illness left him partially blind as a youth, Aldous Huxley abandoned his dreams of becoming a scientist to pursue a literary career.

In The Doors of Perception, he recounted his first experience taking the psychedelic drug Mescaline and, in so doing, would inspire Jim Morrison to name his band The Doors.

One year before the publication of The Doors of Perception, however, Huxley and his wife had applied for US citizenship. Published in 1932, Brave New World marks the apogee of Huxley’s abilities as a satirist.

In adulthood, Huxley’s older brothers, Julian and Andrew, would both become accomplished biologists, and Huxley himself envisioned a future career in science from an early age.

But while he was still a boy, Huxley’s life would be upended by tragedy. In 1916 he graduated with honors from Balliol College at Oxford University and published a collection of poems.

Huxley’s greatest work, however, was still to come.

Ensconced in his recently purchased villa in the South of France, in late 1931 Huxley began work on what is now widely considered to be one of the Western canon's most important novels. Although the book's publication in 1921 angered many of his Garsington acquaintances, it also established Huxley as an important writer and sold well enough to allow him to pursue his literary destiny.

Here, we will take a closer look at the life of the man behind Brave New World…

Early Life: Family Background, Bereavement, & Education

Born on July 26, 1894 near Godalming, Surrey, Aldous Leonard Huxley belonged to a family distinguished in both science and the world of letters. As well as this, he wrote his final novel, Island, in 1962 as well as what is perhaps his seminal work of non-fiction, LiteratureandScience, in 1963.

However, just two months after the publication of Literature and Science, Aldous Huxley died on 22nd November 1963, aged 69.

Among his most famous was The Doors of Perception, published in 1954, which went on to become a foundational text for the counter-cultural revolution of the 1960s. His grandfather and brother were top biologists, and his half-brother, Andrew Huxley, won the Nobel Prize in 1963 for his work in physiology. It should also be noted that Isherwood also claimed, however, that Huxley used the majority of his screenwriting riches to fund the transportation of Jewish and left-wing refugees from Nazi Germany to safety in the United States.

World War II & Huxley’s Later Years

While Huxley only wrote two further novels – The Genius and the Goddess (1955) and Island (1962) – in the 1950s and 60s, his output of non-fiction works was prolific.

Fate struck Huxley one more blow in 1914 when his brother Noel committed suicide after struggling with an extended period of depression.

Burgeoning Writer

A brilliant student despite the obstacles of his youth, Huxley earned a scholarship to Balliol College at Oxford University, where he studied English literature, reading with the aid of a magnifying glass and eye drops that dilated his pupils.

In 1919 he also made advances in his personal life, marrying Maria Nys. She gave birth to their son, Matthew, the following year.

'Brave New World'

Amidst all of these professional and personal developments, Huxley began work on his novel Crome Yellow, a parody of the intelligentsia and his experiences at Garsington.

Nonetheless, he continued to work, delivering lectures at the UCSF Medical Center and the Esalen Institute that would inspire the Human Potential Movement. His parents were both involved in the early stages of his education, which began in his father’s botanical laboratory. Having reached this stalemate, the judge had no alternative but to adjourn the application, which Huxley, in turn, withdrew.

In the decades that followed, that prestige would enable Huxley to not only indulge his love of travel but to also explore new ways of being.

Novels, Essays, Screenwriting and More

Huxley followed Brave New World with the 1936 novel Eyeless in Gaza, which showed his blossoming interest in Eastern philosophy and mysticism.

With his encyclopedic knowledge, matched only by his wit and skill as a conversationalist, it was at Garsington that Huxley first established his reputation as one of the most significant minds in England.

Leveraging this reputation, Huxley contributed articles to such periodicals as The Athenaeum, Vanity Fair and Vogue and published several more collections of poetry as well.

Yet his death marked the loss, nonetheless, of one of the twentieth century’s most important writers and thinkers.

There were many tragedies in Huxley's life, however, from the early death of his mother from cancer when he was just fourteen to nearly losing his eyesight because of an illness...