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A fantasy of the future that sheds a blazing critical light on the present — considered to be Aldous Huxley's most enduring masterpiece.
Review:
"Mr. Huxley is eloquent in his declaration of an artist's faith in man, and it is his eloquence, bitter in attack, noble in defense, that, when one has closed the book, one remembers." Saturday Review of Literature
Review:
"A Fantastic racy narrative, full of much excellent satire and literary horseplay." Forum
Synopsis:
A fantasy of the future that sheds a blazing critical light on the present--considered to be Aldous Huxley's most enduring masterpiece.
"Mr. Huxley is eloquent in his declaration of an artist's faith in man, and it is his eloquence, bitter in attack, noble in defense, that, when one has closed the book, one remembers."
--Saturday Review of Literature
"A Fantastic racy narrative, full of much excellent satire and literary horseplay."
--Forum
"It is as sparkling, provocative, as brilliant, in the appropriate sense, as impressive ads the day it was published. This is in part because its prophetic voice has remained surprisingly contemporary, both in its particular forecasts and in its general tone of semiserious alarm. But it is much more because the book succeeds as a work of art...This is surely Huxley's best book."
The longer fiction of Aldous Huxley has been in the mainstream of the "Novel of Ideas" since the publication in England in 1921 (America 1922) of Crome Yellow, his first novel. Huxley is one of the most skillful and most successful social satirists of the twentieth century. His novels go far in defining the character of modern man, while his later work reflects an interest in mysticism and the effect of the consciousness-expanding drugs.
Born in England in 1894, Mr. Huxley took to writing when his eyesight temporarily failed. From 1934 until his death in 1963, Aldous Huxley lived in California.
gooser114, September 1, 2011 (view all comments by gooser114)
The society that Huxley creates is one dependent on a hallucinogenic drug, soma. No one is able to function without soma to allow them to escape from the problems of everyday life. The government utilizes soma in order to keep the people unaware of the totalitarian regime that they are forced to live in. Only when an outsider is brought into this society are their actions questioned. This outsider is unable to understand this society and unable to change people’s ideas.
This is a wonderful dystopian story that illuminates the dangers of government control and medicalization.
maybsc, August 5, 2009 (view all comments by maybsc)
Amazingly prophetic! I read this book when I was in college (I’m 34 now) it still gives me new insights into the human condition. I think I’ll be rereading this book until I’m old and gray.
Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No (3 of 5 readers found this comment helpful)
Kenny, November 30, 2006 (view all comments by Kenny)
Unique, creative world. An in-depth look on the political theory of "Fordism" and a unique outlook on bio-engineering.
Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No (19 of 36 readers found this comment helpful)
"Review"
by Saturday Review of Literature,
"Mr. Huxley is eloquent in his declaration of an artist's faith in man, and it is his eloquence, bitter in attack, noble in defense, that, when one has closed the book, one remembers."
"Review"
by Forum,
"A Fantastic racy narrative, full of much excellent satire and literary horseplay."
"Synopsis"
by Harper Collins,
A fantasy of the future that sheds a blazing critical light on the present--considered to be Aldous Huxley's most enduring masterpiece.
"Mr. Huxley is eloquent in his declaration of an artist's faith in man, and it is his eloquence, bitter in attack, noble in defense, that, when one has closed the book, one remembers."
--Saturday Review of Literature
"A Fantastic racy narrative, full of much excellent satire and literary horseplay."
--Forum
"It is as sparkling, provocative, as brilliant, in the appropriate sense, as impressive ads the day it was published. This is in part because its prophetic voice has remained surprisingly contemporary, both in its particular forecasts and in its general tone of semiserious alarm. But it is much more because the book succeeds as a work of art...This is surely Huxley's best book."
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