Updated: January 2, 2025
I have started reading “The Complete Works of Aldous Huxley.”
I will link to my previous posts on “Crome Yellow,” “Brave New World,” and “Brave New World Revisited.”
What interests me for the most part, and what is relevant for all of us today, are the items relating to the Fabian socio-political agenda and the underlying philosophies.
Before getting into my direct observations of the novel, I am going to look at the Wikipedia article on “Antic Hay” by Aldous Huxley and the references it provides.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antic_Hay provides some basic plot points about the novel and the context and links to electronic copies of the book online.
Short Britannica.com article on the novel:
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Antic-Hay
I agree with the author that a nihilistic view of humanity comes across in the novel.
Review of the novel from the Glasgow Herald in 1923: https://books.google.ca/books?id=nJ1AAAAAIBAJ&dq=%22Antic+Hay%22&pg=PA5&article_id=5138,1964223&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22Antic%20Hay%22&f=false.
A university seminar topic: https://web.archive.org/web/20060820042327/http://ehlt.flinders.edu.au/english/HW/HWWeekly98.htm
Interesting biography of Aldous Huxley: https://mural.uv.es/~mifepra/biohux.htm
I notice the following point in the Wikipedia article and I wonder, considering the explicit references to Thelema in the novel, whether there was contact between Huxley and Aleister Crowley in Italy. Based on the content of the novel, passages I observed, he must have taken interest in Crowley’s activity to some degree:
The novel was written just after Huxley and his wife moved to Italy, where they lived from 1923 to 1927.
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbey_of_Thelema for information on Aleister Crowley’s activity at the time in Italy.
Other Topics to explore:
Nihilism
Quote from Christopher Marlowe