Selected Letters of Aldous [Hardcover]

Aldous Huxley (Author), James Sexton (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 30, 2007

Of the ten thousand letters that Aldous Huxley wrote, only a fraction have been published. Those that were once considered too sensitive for publication can now be included in a wholly new collection. James Sexton's thoughtful selection opens new perspectives on one of the giants of prose. Huxley's letters movingly depict his courageous battle with almost total blindness. Later letters to his patroness demonstrate the brilliance that would soon gain Huxley an international reputation as one of his generation's major satirists. Gradually the letters reveal a shift from cynical satirist to a committed critic of fascism. The letters also provide plentiful insights into the London and New York theater scenes, and vivid discussions of Hollywood's film industry.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The first collection of Huxley's correspondence since 1969, this presents hundreds of letters never before published, including previously embargoed love letters, offering an illuminating look at an author who left an indelible mark on the 20th century. Sexton's selections cover the full span of Huxley's life, from a six-year-old's note to his older brother in 1901 to his last letter to his son two months before Huxley's death from cancer in 1963. The letters, presented chronologically, illustrate Huxley's friendship with his patron, Lady Ottoline Morrell, and detail a young Huxley's search for employment. Huxley wrote fan letters to H.L. Mencken and Margaret Sanger, enjoyed lunching with Noël Coward and found Charlie Chaplin to be [t]he most ravishing man. Most notable are the playful and intimate letters to his mistress, Mary Hutchinson. To her, he frets about his book about the future, Brave New World: It advances slowly—and the future becomes more and more appalling with every chapter. Later letters detailing a plan to help a Jewish woman escape Nazi Germany by marrying an Englishman, show a determined antifascist and peace activist. Sexton, who co-edited Huxley's complete essays, helps reveal Huxley and the fast-changing world he loved to write about more fully than ever before. (Nov.)
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Review

Aldous Huxley's letters represent a valuable contribution to literary history-and an entertaining one. They reflect his high seriousness, and the extraordinary range of his cultural interests; at the same time they abound in witty gossip and shrewdly observed social detail. They also reveal many unexpected aspects of his personality and his private life. The Huxley who emerges from these pages is both formidable and very human. He can sometimes be arrogant or wrong-headed, too-but that doesn't make him any less readable. (John Gross )

A fascinating and revelatory glimpse into the mental engine room of one of the twentieth-century's most commanding men of letters. Huxley knew everybody, and everybody knew him: these letters provide a vital record of an extraordinary moment in Europe's history as well as a portrait of an extraordinary man. A volume as entertaining as it is illuminating. (Roger Kimball )

These newly published letters of Aldous Huxley are like the discovery of buried treasure. It is as if some leading figure from the Age of Enlightenment had survived into the present. Expressing himself so naturally and often wittily in these letters, he sets a lasting example of intelligence and humanity. (David Pryce Jones )

His reading was immense, his taste was impeccable, and his ear acute...His place in English literature is unique and is certainly assured. (T. S. Eliot )

Huxley was among the few writers who played with ideas so freely, so gaily, with such virtuosity, that the responsive reader was dazzled and excited. (Isaiah Berlin )

"An illuminating work.... Sexton helps reveal Huxley more fully than ever before." (Publishers Weekly )

A book of letters, many previously unpublished, reinforces the impression that Aldous Huxley was attracted to eccentric ideas ... ENGROSSING. (New York Times )

Main pleasures here derive from correspondence with two women, one of whom Huxley shared as a lover with his wife. (New York Times )

Brings a new perspective on the personal and intellectual life of a giant of modern English prose. (Sarasota Herald-Tribune )

Remarkable scope...its hundreds of never-before-published letters recommend it for large academic libraries. (Paulina Taglienti Library Journal )

Letters extend one’s sense of Huxley’s ubiquitous presence in 20th-century intellectual society....Attractive collection represents diligent research....Recommended. (Choice )

A powerful gathering of his personal and intellectual life in letters-most of them published for the first time. (Midwest Book Review )

We see Huxley's full range: husband, traveler, lover, aesthete, and scathing social commentator....Sexton has done an invaluable service. (ELLIE THERMANSEN New Criterion )

There are wonderful things in these letters: dazzling historical, literary-critical and etymological excursions; very funny gossip; reflections on Huxley's writing…and on his increasingly religious reading and sympathies. (JEREMY TREGLOWN Tls )

Sexton's attractive collection represents diligent research in dozens of libraries, and his useful introduction places the letters in the context of Huxley's life and friendships. (Choice )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 512 pages
• Publisher: Ivan R. Dee (November 30, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566636299
• ISBN-13: 978-1566636292
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,868,978 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) is the author of the classic novels Island, Eyeless in Gaza, and The Genius and the Goddess, as well as such critically acclaimed nonfiction works as The Devils of Loudun, The Doors of Perception, and The Perennial Philosophy. Born in Surrey, England, and educated at Oxford, he died in Los Angeles.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A powerful gathering of his personal and intellectual life, January 5, 2008

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

This review is from: Selected Letters of Aldous (Hardcover)

Any college-level collection strong in Huxley literature needs SELECTED LETTERS: it's a powerful gathering of his personal and intellectual life in letters - most of them published for the first time - and is especially notable in light of the fact that of some ten thousand letters he wrote, only a fraction have previously been published - and that this volume comes nearly forty years after the first appearance of another volume of letters. These here have never been published, providing a fine new collection for any college-level library already strong in Huxley works, who would round out their offerings with nonfiction.