Selected Letters (Hardcover)

by Aldous Huxley (Author), James Sexton (Introduction) "In a letter of 9 May 1929, Aldous Huxley advised that he was "not one of nature's letter-writers..." (more)
Key Phrases: very kind invitation, Aldous Huxley, New York, Dearest Mary (more...)

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.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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

"Engrossing collection of letters, many previously unpublished." -- JAMES CAMPBELL, International Herald Tribune

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

"Reveal[s] Huxley and the fast-changing world he loved to write about more fully than ever before." -- Publishers Weekly

"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

"Among the few writers who played with ideas so freely, so gaily, with such virtuosity...the responsive reader was dazzled." -- Isaiah Berlin

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

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

"These letters provide a vital record of an extraordinary moment in Europe's history.... As entertaining as it is illuminating." -- Roger Kimball

"These newly published letters of Aldous Huxley are like the discovery of buried treasure.... Lasting example of intelligence and humanity." -- David Pryce Jones

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 512 pages
• Publisher: Ivan R. Dee, Publisher (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.com Sales Rank: #725,440 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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

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

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.