Preview

Life and Works of Aldous Huxley

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1626 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Life and Works of Aldous Huxley
Daisy Juarez
Ms. Kim
English II Honors
21 December 2012
Aldous Huxley
Figure 1 Young Aldous Huxley. (“Aldous Huxley”).
Widely known author Aldous Huxley was born on July 26, 1894 in Goldalming in the Surrey County in South England. Huxley’s family members were somewhat famous as well. Brothers Julian and Andrew Huxley became biologists following the footsteps of the family’s previous generation. Huxley’s grandfather, Thomas Henry Huxley, was a famous biologist that was nicknamed “Darwin’s Bulldog” (“Aldous Huxley – Biography”). Huxley’s grandfather was famous for helping in the development of theory of evolution. Huxley also had an interest in becoming a biologist himself; however, his life as a youth took a serious turn. His mother, novelist, died of cancer when Huxley was merely 14, followed by one of his brother’s suicide in 1914 (“Aldous Huxley – Biography – The Author and his Times”). Despite this, Huxley also suffered a staphylococci infection leaving him completely blind for over a year. During this time, Huxley taught himself how to read Braille and how to play piano. Although Huxley regained a quarter of his normal eyesight, his future in biology was discontinued. Huxley did, however, receive a scholarship to Balliol College for English language and literature. After Balliol, Huxley then attended Oxford, where he would meet John Middleton Murry that would then introduce him to writers. Near Oxford, Huxley grew close to Philip and Ottoline Morrell. In the Morrell home, the development of the Bloomsbury group, a group of intellectuals including Huxley, sparked. It was during Huxley’s college life where he would first be introduced to actual writers and inspiration to record his already active intellectual thoughts (“Aldous Huxley”).
In his early twenties, Huxley had many writing jobs, excluding being a novelist because he would begin to write novels later in his life. Some jobs Huxley had obtained as a young twenty year old included a



Cited: "Aldous Huxley." Spartacus Educational. Spartacus Educational, n.d. Web. <http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Jhuxley.htm>"Aldous Huxley and Anita Loos in Hollywood." Ilab.org. Bromer Booksellers, 17 Feb. 2012. Web. <http://www.ilab.org/eng/documentation/714 aldous_huxley_and_anita_loos_in_hollywood.html>"Aldous Huxley - Biography." Aldous Huxley. The European Graduate School, n.d. Web. <http://www.egs.edu/library/aldous-huxley/biography/>."Aldous Huxley - Biography - The Author and his Times." Somaweb.org. Somaweb, 1995-2011. Web. <http://somaweb.org/w/huxbio.html> "Crome Yellow." Jandy 's Reading Room. N.p., n.d. Web. <http://www.jandysbooks.com/genfic/crome.html>."Harry Ransom Center." Interview by Mike Wallace. Harry Ransom Center RSS. N.p., 12 Jan. 2012. Web. <http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/multimedia/video/2008/wallace/huxley_aldous.html>.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    kak lang

    • 2371 Words
    • 10 Pages

    In the following passage, the contemporary social critic Neil Postman contrasts George Orwell’s vision of the future, as expressed in the novel 1984 (written in 1948), with that of Aldous Huxley in the novel Brave New World (1936). Read the passage considering whether Postman’s assertion of Huxley’s vision is more relevant today than is Orwell’s. Then, using your own critical understanding of contemporary society as evidence, write a carefully argued essay that agrees or disagrees with Postman’s assertion.…

    • 2371 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Freud’s theories, while groundbreaking, are continually under debate. His theories depended on lust and violence being the core of humanity and received great acclaim during his lifetime. However, Huxley was not fond of Freud, as many of his contemporaries were. He took Freud’s theories to the extreme in his novel. By doing this, he pokes fun at the ridiculousness of the time period in which Huxley lived, the 1930’s, that had become so infatuated with Freud and his theories (Saracino, 10). Huxley, being friends with fellow author D.H. Lawrence, whose “passionate engagement with Freudianism, as well as his…

    • 1748 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The novel “Brave New World” should be kept in the high school curriculum because it creates concepts that are similarly based on today’s values. However, some may find it offensive due to some fragments of the literary work, and believe it should be banned from high school curriculum, but one is not intended to receive any misleading advice or become influenced based on the novels content. The novel provides a very vivid image of a dystopian society and that was Huxley’s intention and nothing…

    • 914 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Huxley grew up in a conservative, rich, and elite English family during the early 20th century. He lived through World War I, the roaring 20’s, and part of the Great Depression before he began writing Brave New World, giving him a wealth of issues to expound upon in the novel. As a conservative Englishman, Huxley feared both rapid progress and the growing communist and fascist powers in Europe, giving rise to his predictions about the future of art and the role of government. The terror instilled in him by nearby change and unrest likely lead to the inaccuracy and, in some cases, the reversal of his predictions. Huxley was able to see the importance of the issues addressed in Brave New World, but ultimately the predictions themselves are actually inaccurate due to the perspective of…

    • 1560 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In a world where there aren’t enough problems for healthy personal development, do we create artificial mental distress with chemicals for balance? This section of the piece of literature known as Brave New World by Aldous Huxley is a piece of literature that makes a lot of broad points about ideology, has characters that in ways seem to be pawns of these ideologies but lacks a setting, is written in third person, and has a very interesting plot and conflict.…

    • 609 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In her investigative essay entitled “Alienation in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World,” Josephine McQuail explores the recurring theme of alienation in Huxley’s dystopian classic, touching upon “psychological, sociological, sexual, biological, and even aesthetic” (McQuail 32) alienation for several major characters. She expresses her belief that Huxley’s main message in the novel, “only the alienated individual… can achieve true happiness” (McQuail 31), is flawed. While this claim has its merits, the four main characters of the novel, all iconoclasts in their society, meet some kind of unhappy end, invalidating Huxley’s message. However, all other people but the four main characters-- Bernard, Helmholtz, Mustapha, and John-- are incapable of any emotions besides those conditioned to them.…

    • 351 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    MWDS Brave New World

    • 2120 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Aldous Huxley was a British writer born in Surrey, England on July 26, 1894. He studied science at Eton, but a problem with his eyes left him partially blind and he had to leave after three years. When it eventually improved he attended Oxford, receiving a degree in English Literature. Over the course of his life he wrote many books of all which ranged from topics of drugs and sex to religion and politics. In 1945, Huxley began experimenting with drugs, predominately LSD and mescaline. He died in California in 1963.…

    • 2120 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Aldous Huxley was born into a renowned English family in 1894. Huxley works were creative and in all he published 47 books during his career. But his single most famous book remains "Brave New World," a combination of science fiction, politics, and satire that depicts a negative vision of what the future could hold. He set out to write about the social and intellectual climate change between the two world wars that were marked by major changes on an international scale. H.G. Wells, a contemporary man of Huxley 's time, wrote novels that explored the future from an optimistic viewpoint. Wells found…

    • 1017 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    A.a Milne

    • 878 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Before he became the famous author he is today, Milne lived a rather normal and quiet life. Milne was born to Sarah and John Milne in Hampstead, London on January 18th 1882 . For most of his childhood and young adulthood, Milne resided in the school his father ran, the Henley house, which he also attended as a child (just-pooh). As a boy, Milne was a rather bright student who learned to read and write before the age of five (Wheeler). Milne’s extraordinary grades in Mathematics, and especially Writing, got him numerous scholarships to many different universities such as Cambridge. Although Milne always aspired to be a writer, on of his inspirations was the famous H.G Wells who became his teacher and Mentor (poohcorner). The more he learned from Wells, the more Milne aspired to be a writer. It is certain that without the encouraging words and teachings from his mentor, Milne would not be the same, remarkable author he became.…

    • 878 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    creature, when it comes to the complex structure of the essays. As a writer, Huxley refused to…

    • 2108 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    After leaving graduate school Roethke began teaching at Lafayette College and started writing and after ten years he published his first book, Open House. Then going to teach at Michigan State College and Pennsylvania State University he released some works and from there he started to make a name for himself. While teaching it was discovered that he had a mental illness, he had to be hospitalized and stopped teaching. Roethke had reoccurring depression, but instead of bringing him down he used it to his advantage of being able to explore writing in a different mindset (Kalaidjian).…

    • 1617 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Aldous Huxley, born into an influential family in England in 1894, he was raised among very smart people, including many great creators. Huxley’s grandfather, Thomas Huxley, who supported and promoted the projects of Charles Darwin. Huxley’s mother died when he was fourteen years-old and her death and the death of a sister in the same month were large sources of sorrow in the family. In order to handle his depression, Huxley committed hard to his…

    • 76 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Charles Darwin was born on February 12, 1809, in Shrewsbury, England and died at the Down House in Kent on April 19, 1882. He was born to Robert and Susannah Darwin.…

    • 701 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Charles Darwin Essay

    • 423 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The man is Charles Darwin. Charles was born in the year 1809 in Enlgand. His main contribution to science was the Theory of Evolution, widely referred to as Darwinism. He is also the author of a book, On the Origin of Species.…

    • 423 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Wendell Berry

    • 587 Words
    • 2 Pages

    His schooling expanded his vocabulary and in turn, made him the writer he was known as.…

    • 587 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays