Aldous Huxley: A Biography [Paperback]

Sybille Bedford (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 22, 2002

In this dazzling conjunction of subject and author, the great English novelist Aldous Huxley, the “wholly civilized man,” is brought wholly alive in a magnificent full-scale biography by the brilliant English novelist Sybille Bedford, an intimate friend of the Huxleys through four decades. With a pointillistic richness of moment, place, and talk, she re-creates not only the private Huxley and the literary Huxley but the entire intellectual and social era to which he was central. Despite the almost total loss of his sight at age sixteen, Huxley became a titan and cultural hero of the decades after World War I, on terms with the outstanding writers and artists of his day, from D. H. Lawrence to Stravinksy and Auden. He had two separate and large careers as Crome Yellow and Point Counter Point, flag-bearer of England’s Bright Young People through the 1920s, and romancer of glittering women; and later, in America, as the increasingly philosophical and utopian thinker, and a pioneering explorer of the frontiers of the human mind. Drawing on his letters and diaries, the memories of his intimates, and her own sharp and sensitive comprehension of Huxley’s writings, Mrs. Bedford has written a masterful biography. "Her novelist’s eye," writes V. S. Pritchett, "brings the writer to life. Huxley becomes a living, deeply attractive presence, while his great contemporaries flash through these pages in memorable and moving encounters. Mrs. Bedford’s biography stands as the major work on a major figure in the literary and intellectual history of the twentieth century."

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Bedford drew on firsthand experience while writing this 1974 biography of Huxley, with whom she was friends for 40 years. She also had access to his diaries and personal papers as well as the cooperation of family and other friends. Her novelist's style makes for a very readable account.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Astonishing.... What makes her work so singularly absorbing is the complete sympathy she somehow pairs with her characteristic detachment. (Benjamin Schwartz Atlantic Monthly )

One of the great classic English biographies...unforgettably profound and unsparing...as forbidding to competitors as Boswellís life of Johnson. (Philip Hensher Spectator )

Bedford drew on firsthand experience while writing this 1974 biography of Huxley, with whom she was friends for 40 years. She also had access to his diaries and personal papers as well as the cooperation of family and other friends. Her novelist's style makes for a very readable account. (Library Journal )

Her novelist's eye brings the writer to life. Huxley becomes a living, deeply attractive presence, while his great contemporaries flash through these pages in memorable and moving encounters. Mrs. Bedford's biography stands as the major work on a major figure in the literary and intellectual history of the twentieth century. (V. S. Pritchett )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 820 pages
• Publisher: Ivan R. Dee; 1 edition (July 22, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566634547
• ISBN-13: 978-1566634540
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,107,757 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars sympathy and objectivity make a fine book, August 21, 2006

By 

James A. Means - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Aldous Huxley: A Biography (Paperback)

I read this superb biography years ago, as part of a Summer's "free reading" (a luxury for an academic), for I had no particular interest in Huxley, having read only his "Chrome Yellow" and "Point Counter Point" at that time. Bedford, I discovered, is a glorious writer (she has written probably the best book in English on Mexico) and possesses rare insight into the minds of other artists. These gifts make her biography of Huxley a masterpiece. As you follow her narrative, you will be impelled, I predict, to read the Huxley novels you have thus far ignored.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Deftly probes Huxley's life and writings, January 11, 2003

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Aldous Huxley: A Biography (Paperback)

Syville Bedford's literary biography Aldous Huxley blends Huxley's remarkable life with his quite successful literary career, all wrapped in the familiarity of the author with Huxley's family over the decades. With such associations in hand, biographer and author Syville Bedford then deftly probes Huxley's life and writings, creating a memorable biography and a set of insights that deserves ongoing mention.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It's a slog, June 12, 2008

By 

F. noyes "f noyes bookworm" - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Aldous Huxley: A Biography (Paperback)

This is my latest read of Sybille Bedford's works and, I might add, I'm a huge fan of hers. In some ways this is a masterful effort on Sybille's part, the cradle to grave biographical tome, yet it will take a very dedicated reader to plow through this one without putting it aside. As the Sybille Bedford reader will attest, if you are not at least somewhat fluent beyond English (i.e. French, a bit of Spanish, Italian) she can be a somewhat distracting as she intersperses her paragraphs in foreign tongues. Of course, Sybille knew the Huxleys well for many years and can certainly paint the portrait. However, as she mentions, quite a bit of Aldous's own letters have been lost and she relies extensively on Maria's (his wife) lengthy letters to family and friends; to say she was a prolific letter writer is an understatement. Anyhow, I do believe this was a gallant effort to capture the life and times of Aldous Huxley and most probably Sybille Bedford was the best author to do so. At 700+ pages, just make the commitment!