Aldous Huxley
| Famous as | Writer |
| Born on | 26 July 1894 |
| Born in | Godalming, Surrey, England |
| Died on | 22 November 1963 |
| Nationality | United States |
Aldous Huxley Childhood
Aldous Huxley was born on 26 July 1894 in Godalming, Surrey,
England to writer and schoolmaster father, Leonard Huxley and Julia
Arnold. He was the youngest of three children in the Huxley family.
Young Huxley started getting his initial education and learning in his
father's well-equipped botanical laboratory before joining a school
named Hillside. He found his mother to be a great teacher who taught and
supervised him for several years before falling terminally ill. Huxley
joined Eton College after Hillside schooling. His mother died in 1908.
In 1911 Huxley contracted an illness, “keratitis punctata” which
reportedly left him blind for two to three years. He could not join the
forces during the World War I due to his blindness.
Youth
After regaining his eyesight he could continue with his education
and pursue English literature at Balliol College, Oxford. He started
editing the magazine, ‘Oxford Poetry’ from 1916. He graduated with a
first class in honours.
Having completed with his graduation from Balliol College, Oxford
he had to make up to his father and repay him. He took up work to earn
for his living and became a French teacher teaching for a year at Eton
where he had students like Eric Blair (later known by the pen name
George Orwell who was a brilliant English writer) and Stephen Runciman,
the very famous future Historian. Huxley was known to be an incompetent
teacher who did not have the strength to maintain a disciplined class
but in spite of all these labels he was greatly known for his use of
words and mastery with the English language.
In 1918 Huxley spent a short term at the Air Ministry. In the 1920s
he got employed with the technologically-advanced Brunner and Mond
chemical plant in Billingham, Teesside. At the age of 17 he completed
writing his first unpublished novel and by the time he reached his 20s
he started writing seriously. His very early novels include “Crome
Yellow” which was published in 1921.
Early Life & Career
As the World War I continued in its full swing
Huxley worked as a farm labourer at Garsington Manor, home of Lady
Ottoline Morrell, where he met several eminent personalities like
Bertrand Russell, Clive Bell and D. H. Lawrence of “Bloomsbury Group” or
“Bloomsbury Set” which was an intellectual group comprising of writers,
intellectuals, philosophers and artists.
In 1919 he married Maria Nys, a Belgian woman whom he met at
Garsington. Huxley would frequently meet D. H. Lawrence who was a friend
of Huxley’s. In 1930 Lawrence died which led Huxley to edit Lawrence's
letters in 1933. During this period, Huxley wrote his magnum opus,
“Brave New World” in 1931 which was published in 1932. Brave New World
depicted developments in reproductive technology and sleep-learning that
combine together and go on to change society. Huxley elaborated on the
future society which he showed as an embodiment of the ideals that form
the basis of futurism. He also wrote his bestselling novel ‘Eyeless in
Gaza’ which was published in 1936.
Move to the United States
In 1937 Huxley shifted his base to Hollywood, California with his
wife Maria, son Matthew, and friend Gerald Heard. He started living in
California and he lived in the United States till his death. He also
lived in Taos, New Mexico where he completed writing his book of essays,
“Ends and Means” (an Enquiry Into the Nature of Ideals and Into the
Methods Employed for Their Realization) which was published in 1937.
Huxley was introduced to Vedanta philosophy by his friend Gerald
Heard. Huxley got tuned to the Hindu Veda-centric school of thought
where he learnt various modes of meditation, and vegetarianism
through the principle of ahimsa, that Vedanta taught. In 1938 Huxley
befriended J. Krishnamurti whose teachings inspired Huxley greatly. Soon
Huxley became a prominent Vedantist and joined the circle of Hindu
Swami Prabhavananda, and introduced Christopher Isherwood to this
circle. He started writing on his next book that had his recently
acquired spiritual values and ideas, “The Perennial Philosophy” which
was published in 1945 and Huxley talked about “the metaphysic that
recognizes a divine Reality substantial to the world of things and lives
and minds; the psychology that finds in the soul
something similar to, or even identical with, divine Reality; the ethic
that places man's final end in the knowledge of the immanent and
transcendent Ground of all being; the thing is immemorial and universal.
Rudiments of the perennial philosophy may be found among the
traditional lore of primitive peoples in every region of the world, and
in its fully developed forms it has a place in every one of the higher
religions” in the book. By perennial philosophy Huxley must have meant a
gross translated expression of the Hindu term (concept), ‘Sanatana
Dharma’ or eternal religion.
Hollywood Fame
Huxley started making friends in United States and his aim was to
become a prominent writer in Hollywood. He befriended Remsen Bird,
president of Occidental College where Huxley spent a lot of time. During
the late 1930s Huxley earned some Hollywood income as a writer.
In March 1938 his novelist and screenwriter friend, Anita Loos
introduced Huxley to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer who hired Huxley for Madame
Curie which was originally to star Greta Garbo and be directed by George
Cukor.
In 1939 Huxley wrote his satirical novel “After Many a Summer”
which is a story about a Hollywood millionaire who fears his impending
death. It was published in the USA with the title, ‘After Many a Summer
Dies the Swan’. Huxley won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for
fiction in 1939. Huxley used the Occidental College and named it as
Tarzana College in his book.
He received payments for various Hollywood films (that bore his
work) like “Pride and Prejudice” in 1940 for which Huxley received
screen credit and Jane Eyre in 1944. In spite of his involvement in
several films, he did not attain great success in Hollywood. Huxley
could not match with the fast paced dynamic dialogue writing sessions
prevalent in Hollywood because he was known for his leisurely
development of ideas which was unsuitable in Hollywood.
On 21 October 1949, Huxley wrote to George Orwell, author of
“Nineteen Eighty-Four” and congratulated Orwell that "how fine and how
profoundly important the book is".
End of World War II
Huxley remained greatly attached with the Vedanta Society of
Southern California which was founded and headed by Swami Prabhavananda,
from the period 1939 till his death in 1963. In 1944 Huxley wrote the
introduction to the “Bhagavad Gita: The Song of God” which was
translated by Swami Prabhavanada and Christopher Isherwood and published
by The Vedanta Society of Southern California.
From 1941 to 1960 Huxley had made a total of 48 article
contributions to ‘Vedanta and the West’ which was again published by the
society. From 1951 to 1962 he had served as a member of the editorial
board of ‘Vedanta and the West’ with Isherwood, Heard, and playwright
John van Druten. In 1954 Huxley’s book, ‘The Doors of Perception’ was
published which elaborated on his experiences of taking Mescaline, a
naturally-occurring psychedelic alkaloid of the phenethylamine class
used mainly as an entheogen. This book moved Huxley away from Swami who
disagreed with Huxley’s meaning and importance of the LSD drug
experience. In spite of his differences with Swami, Huxley continued
writing articles for the Society's journal, lecture at the temple and
also attend social functions at the Society.
Bettering his Eyesight
There are several and varied accounts on Huxley’s eyesight given by
his biographers and other individuals. In 1939 Huxley went through
Bates Method, the alternative therapy for bettering eyesight. He was
taught by Margaret Corbett to learn the method.
In 1940 he moved from Hollywood to the high desert hamlet of Llano,
California, in northernmost Los Angeles County where he supposedly
found his eyesight to have improved greatly. He reportedly saw better
with the help of Bates Method. It was in the midst of pure natural
lighting of the south-western American desert that he gained his normal
eye sight of which he gave an account stating that for the first time in
25 years he could read without his pair of glasses without having to
strain his eyes. He also tried driving a car along the dirt road beside
the ranch. In 1942 Huxley’s “The Art of Seeing” was published in the
USA, stating his views and experiences with the Bates Method. It was
published in UK in 1943.
It has been noted that Huxley lived with his poor eyesight due to
his childhood illness, despite his claims that his eyesight had improved
greatly but it was allegedly only a temporary recovery. This has been
confirmed with one incident that occurred in 1952 when Bennett Cerf was
present when Huxley spoke at a Hollywood banquet, wearing no glasses and
apparently reading his paper from the lectern without difficulty. Cerf
states, “Then suddenly he faltered—and the disturbing truth became
obvious. He wasn't reading his address at all. He had learned it by
heart. To refresh his memory he brought the paper closer and closer to
his eyes. When it was only an inch or so away he still couldn't read it,
and had to fish for a magnifying glass in his pocket to make the typing
visible to him. It was an agonizing moment.” Huxley’s wife had affirmed
the regaining of Huxley’s eyesight in her biographical account, “This
Timeless Moment”, stating, “One of the great achievements of his life:
that of having regained his sight”.
Personal Life
In 1919, he married Maria Nys, a Belgian whom he had met during his
stay at Garsington. The couple had a child Matthew Huxley who became a
epidemiologist. In 1955 Maria died of breast cancer. Huxley married
again in 1956 to writer Laura Archera.
Awards
James Tait Black Memorial Prize for ‘After Many a Summer Dies the Swan’ in 1939
American Academy of Arts and Letters Award of Merit for ‘Brave New World’ in 1959
Companion of Literature by the Royal Society of Literature in 1962
Death
Huxley was diagnosed with laryngeal cancer in 1960. In the
following years he got weaker. Huxley used to take drugs and had
requested his wife for LSD at his deathbed. She had obliged to give a
drug injection to Huxley in the morning and he died in the evening of 22
November 1963.
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Aldous Huxley Timeline: | ||||
1894 - Huxley was born on 26 July
1908 - His mother died
1911 - Huxley contracted an illness, “keratitis
punctata” which reportedly left him blind for two to three years. He
could not join the forces during the World War I due to his blindness
1916 - After regaining his eyesight he could
continue with his education and pursue English literature at Balliol
College, Oxford. He started editing the magazine, ‘Oxford Poetry’. He
graduated with a first class in honours
1918 - Huxley spent a short term at the Air Ministry
1919 - He married Maria Nys, a Belgian woman whom
he met at Garsington Manor where he worked as a farm labourer. He also
met several eminent personalities like Bertrand Russell, Clive Bell and
D. H. Lawrence of “Bloomsbury Group” or “Bloomsbury Set” which was an
intellectual group comprising of writers, intellectuals, philosophers
and artists
1920s - He got employed with the technologically-advanced Brunner and Mond chemical plant in Billingham, Teesside
1921 - His very early novels include “Crome Yellow” which was published
1930 - Huxley would frequently meet D. H. Lawrence who was a friend of Huxley’s and he died
1930s - During the late 1930s Huxley earned some Hollywood income as a writer
1931 - Huxley wrote his magnum opus, “Brave New World”
1932 - “Brave New World” was published
1933 – Lawrence’s death led Huxley to edit Lawrence's letters
1936 – He wrote his bestselling novel ‘Eyeless in Gaza’ which was published
1937 - Huxley shifted his base to Hollywood,
California with his wife Maria, son Matthew, and friend Gerald Heard. He
started living in California and he lived in the United States till his
death
1937 - He also lived in Taos, New Mexico where he
completed writing his book of essays, “Ends and Means” (an Enquiry Into
the Nature of Ideals and Into the Methods Employed for Their
Realization) which was published
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