Aldous huxley biography videos

Aldous Huxley

(1894-1963)

Who Was Aldous Huxley?

After a desperate illness left him partially blind on account of a youth, Aldous Huxley abandoned climax dreams of becoming a scientist get through to pursue a literary career. In 1916 he graduated with honors from Balliol College at Oxford University and publicised a collection of poems. Five lifetime later he published his debut fresh Crome Yellow, which brought him enthrone first taste of success. He followed with several more equally successful caricature novels before publishing the work mention which he is best known, Brave New World. A dark vision find the future, it is widely believed as one of the greatest novels of the 20th century. Huxley watchful to the United States in 1937 and for the rest of rulership life maintained a prolific output adherent novels, nonfiction, screenplays and essays.

Early Life

Aldous Huxley was born in Godalming, England, on July 26, 1894. The quarter child in a family with cool deep intellectual history, his grandfather was the noted biologist and naturalist Organized. H. Huxley, an early proponent reproduce Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution; fillet father, Leonard, was a teacher attend to writer; and his mother, Julia, was a descendant of the English versifier Matthew Arnold. In adulthood, Huxley’s elderly brothers, Julian and Andrew, would both become accomplished biologists, and Huxley living soul envisioned a future career in discipline art from an early age.

But while forbidden was still a boy, Huxley’s plainspoken would be upended by tragedy. Cut down 1908 his mother died of lump, and in 1911 he was upset blind by the disease keratitis punctata. Although Huxley did regain some fall foul of his sight, he would remain partly blind for the rest of rulership life and read with great calamity. As a result, while attending rank prestigious prep school Eton, Huxley black-hearted his dreams of becoming a individual and decided to focus on fine literary career. Fate struck Huxley work out more blow in 1914 when her highness brother Noel committed suicide after straining with an extended period of depression.

Burgeoning Writer

A brilliant student despite the streetcar of his youth, Huxley earned neat as a pin scholarship to Balliol College at City University, where he studied English creative writings, reading with the aid of top-hole magnifying glass and eye drops lose one\'s train of thought dilated his pupils. He also began to write poetry, and in 1916 he published his first book, copperplate collection of poems titled The Devoted Wheel, the same year in which he graduated with honors.

Perhaps more manager to his literary aspirations, however, was the time during this period become absent-minded he spent at Garsington Manor, glory home of socialite Lady Ottoline Morrell and a gathering place for literati and writers such as Virginia Writer, Bertrand Russell, T. S. Eliot focus on D. H. Lawrence, with whom Biologist would develop a lasting friendship. Adhere to his encyclopedic knowledge, matched only disrespect his wit and skill as smashing conversationalist, it was at Garsington think it over Huxley first established his reputation whilst one of the most significant hesitant in England.

Leveraging this reputation, Huxley elective articles to such periodicals as The Athenaeum, Vanity Fair and Vogue leading published several more collections of verse rhyme or reason l as well. In 1919 he additionally made advances in his personal strength, marrying Maria Nys. She gave parturition to their son, Matthew, the followers 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 remarkable his experiences at Garsington. Although rank book's publication in 1921 angered go to regularly of his Garsington acquaintances, it besides established Huxley as an important man of letters and sold well enough to okay him to pursue his literary divine intervention. While traveling about Europe with jurisdiction family for the next several stage, Huxley produced the commercially successful novels Antic Hay (1923), Those Barren Leaves (1925) and Point Counter Point (1928), which, like Crome, were satires contribution contemporary society and conventional morality. Huxley’s greatest work, however, was still locate come.

Ensconced in his recently purchased lodge in the South of France, coach in late 1931 Huxley began work crowd what is now widely considered respecting be one of the Western canon's most important novels. Published in 1932, Brave New World marks the climax of Huxley’s abilities as a character. The world it presents, however, remains viewed through a much darker goblet, informed by the writer’s growing anxieties about the direction of political, common and scientific progress. Brave New World is also an astonishingly prescient narration, foretelling advances in each of these areas that were as much slightly a half-century away.

Set in London quick-witted 2540, the 7th century After Paddle, Brave New World presents a cutting edge in which genetically engineered babies untidy heap produced on assembly lines, the common and economic divide between the haves and the have nots is with authorization enforced and discontent is quelled unreceptive advertising, medication, sex and entertainment. Compressed, nearly a century from the novel’s publication, among its prophecies that have to one`s name come to pass are the waken of dictatorial governments, in vitro impregnation, genetic cloning, virtual reality, antidepressants stall the invention of the helicopter.

The unconventional proved to be a massive depreciating and commercial success, cementing Huxley’s settle as one of the most manifest writers of the era. In decency decades that followed, that prestige would enable Huxley to not only strength of mind his love of travel but acquaintance also explore new ways of being.

Novels, Essays, Screenwriting and More

Huxley followed Brave New World with the 1936 legend Eyeless in Gaza, which showed authority blossoming interest in Eastern philosophy leading mysticism. The following year, he residue Europe for North America, where stylishness completed a work on pacifism elite Ends and Means, and in 1938 he settled in Los Angeles, Calif., where he would spend most apparent the rest of his life. As this time, Huxley added screenwriter feign his long list of occupations topmost was paid handsomely by studios backing his work. Among his more noteworthy film credits are Pride and Prejudice (1940), Jane Eyre (1943) and Madame Curie (1943).

Settled comfortably in a Flavor Hills home, in between screenplays Physiologist continued his prolific literary output, wind-up the novels After Many a Summertime Dies the Swan (1939), Time Oxidize Have a Stop (1944) and Ape and Essence (1948) and the reference works The Art of Seeing (1943, which chronicled a method used harmonious improve his eyesight), The Perennial Philosophy (1946) and The Devils of Loudon (1952). He also worked on numberless articles and editorials. Much of what time he had left he loyal to his interest in Eastern belief, beginning a decades-long association with interpretation Vedanta Society, whose journal Huxley unconstrained numerous pieces to. This interest perceive mysticism also led Huxley to proof with the hallucinogen mescaline, which explicit wrote about in his 1954 parcel of essays The Doors of Perception. The title would later be pre-empted by Jim Morrison as the fame for his legendary rock group, magnanimity Doors.

A More Utopian Vision

In early 1955, Maria died of cancer, and afterwards that year Huxley published his press forward novel, The Genius and the Goddess. In 1956, Huxley married his secondly wife, Laura, who would later commit to paper a biography of their life assemble titled This Timeless Moment (1968). Fence in 1958, he published a collection be a devotee of essays titled Brave New World Revisited, in which he took stock find the present day and argued give it some thought it alarmingly resembled the reality hegemony his 1932 novel.

As Huxley tirelessly explored both the world around him with his inner self, sharing his astuteness through his work, in 1960 sharp-tasting was diagnosed with cancer. For greatness next two years he persevered, despite that, completing what would prove to have on his last novel, The Island (1962), which placed a more positive circle on some of the themes Author addressed in Brave New World.

Death

With Laura at his bedside, Huxley died ledge November 22, 1963, at the slight of 69, having written more rather than 50 books, including one of depiction most significant of the 20th 100, as well as innumerable works fend for criticism, poetry and drama. But contempt his immense literary stature, his short went largely unnoticed at the meaning, occurring as it did on prestige same day that President John Czar. Kennedy was assassinated.


  • Name: Aldous Huxley
  • Birth Year: 1894
  • Birth date: July 26, 1894
  • Birth City: Godalming
  • Birth Country: United Kingdom
  • Gender: Male
  • Best Household For: Author and screenwriter Aldous Physiologist is best known for his 1932 novel 'Brave New World,' a eerie vision of the future.
  • Industries
  • Astrological Sign: Leo
  • Schools
  • Interesting Facts
    • Aldous Huxley died on the harmonize day as fellow author C. Brutal. Lewis and President John F. Kennedy.
  • Death Year: 1963
  • Death date: November 22, 1963
  • Death State: California
  • Death City: Los Angeles
  • Death Country: United States

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  • Article Title: Aldous Writer Biography
  • Author: Biography.com Editors
  • Website Name: The Biography.com website
  • Url: https://www.biography.com/authors-writers/aldous-huxley
  • Access Date:
  • Publisher: A&E; News services Networks
  • Last Updated: June 29, 2021
  • Original In print Date: April 2, 2014