The Devils of Loudon [Paperback]

Aldous Huxley (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Perennial /Harper&Row (1971)
• ASIN: B000TCXAVK
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,152,895 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Review of Devils of Loudon by a psychologist, August 30, 2009

By 

Dr. Damon Labarbera (Florida) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Devils of Loudon (Paperback)

This is a learned treatise on the death of Urbain Grandier, a practicing Jesuit priest convicted of witchcraft in 17th century Loudon, France. Huxley infers filler events from his encyclopedic knowledge of that period and from contemporary commentary. He also interjects his nascent spiritual views into the interpretation of those events, in a tone that is detached, compassionate, opinioned, and ocassionally humorous. The book, if actually read beginning to end, is likely to give one a comprensive understanding of 17th century French and ecclesiastical politics, hermeneutics, culture, and a psychological understanding of the individual characters involved, a colorful lot in his telling. Also the book provides a glimpse into Huxley's developing spiritual beliefs, often profound, sometimes idiosyncratic, and always interesting. The book can also be read at one level rather as entertainment, in the style of a modern non-fiction crime novel, and perhaps is an unrecognized progenitor of that genre. DOL probably has to be read several times to attain comfort with his nuanced thought and the tonnage of information conveyed. And a psychologist might argue that conceptualizations bear a mid century imprimateur, but the assemblage of so much information and perceptivity is impressive, to say the least. Damon LaBarbera