photo from somaweb.orgAldous Huxley
British Novelist
1894-1963
Key facts:
- Grandfather and brother were biologists
- Educated at Eton and Oxford
- Nearly blind so learned Braille
- Published travel books, poems, novels, plays and essays
- Huxley’s style is known for its brilliant dialogue, cynicism, and social criticism.
- Brave New World, first published in 1932, is a dark vision of a highly technological future society.
- Married twice; had one son
- “Huxley scandalized millions” (Malcolm X)
Read more about Huxley on Wikipedia or at somaweb.org (a website devoted to exploring Huxley and his works complete with a discussion board).
To view a brief video of Huxley himself discussing Brave New World, click here.
13 comments:
Mrs. Roehl, I'm excited for your world lit class and to learn more about the world around us. I saw the Aldous Huxley video, and it seemed very interesting to me. After reading the first chapter, in the video, I feel that Huxley's VERY imaginative view of the future might actually come to life in later years. With all of the technological advances and new studies, there might be a correlation between the future and Huxley's views, which seems hard to grasp right now. This book should be interesting.
After watching the video, I was amazed at how well spoken he was considering that he may have been an LSD addict. My two favorite quotes have to be"technology was made for man and not man for technology" and "the mental universe is larger and stronger than we give it credit for, we carry it about our skull a legendary and mystical world." I thought it was funny how with all his knowledge of other subjects, that he thought he was able to explore with this new drug without doing any harm to himself, when in reality, it causes permanent damage to the human brain.
One interesting fact I learned about Huxley was about his only son, Matthew Huxley. Aldous married Maria Nys in 1919 and in 1920 their son was born. He grew up to become an epidemiologist and part author just like his father. Sadly, he passed away in 2005 at the age of 84 because of cardiac arrest.
I found several interesting facts about Aldous Huxley. For example, Huxley appears on the cover of the album Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts' Club Band in the back row, and a new video game, called "Huxley" and set in the Brave New World universe, is being developed for release next spring.
I learned that Aldous Huxley was at least by the end of his writing career considered a prominent leader of modern thought and an intellectual at the highest rank.
An interesting fact I learned about Huxley was that he was denied citizenship because he refused to take up arms in america's defense. I think A Brave New World is a very good book and everytime I read it I become overwhelmed with happiness. I am very excited to learn more about Bernard Marx and his intriguing personality. I also wonder if there is something wrong with Lenina because she seems like she's the only one attracted to Bernard.
Something I learned about Huxley is that he traveled to Italy and France with a man named D.H Lawrence during the 1920's, and for most of the 20's he lived in Italy.
I learned some interesting facts about Huxley...
-He worked for Vogue Magazine
-He worked for House and Garden
-He lived in California
-He married Laura Archera, who was a violinist and psychotherapist
-He lived in Italy for a while
-He was addicted to mescaline and LSD
-He taught at Eton University
It was really interesting to learn more about Huxley
Something I thought was interesting was the fact that the movie "Demolition Man" with Sylvester Stallone has many references to not only Huxley but also Brave New World itself. I think we should watch this movie.
Another movie I found that was based on the book was actually titled "Brave New World" and was released in 1998. That could be really interesting to watch after and see how it compares to the novel. One of the actors is Peter Gallagher who is the dad from the OC! He plays the actor for Bernard Marx!
:)
i thought the movie was really interesting just becuase you found out some interesting things like how right before he died he took LSD. I also thought it was interesting how he was considered one of the leaders in modern thought and that he had a son.
I thought the movie was really inreresting. A fack I learned about Huxley is a planet in Peter F. Hamilton's Commonwealth Saga is named after him.
Jennifer K.
Hour 2
The video on Aldous Huxley was quiet interesting, especially the choice of words he used. He came off as a world viewer and very open to a broader concept of what is possible and what is idealistic. My favorite quote had to be, ‘I think we are capable of looking at the world under the aspect of eternity in a kind of timeless way perceiving things as they are not through the veil of our concepts and notions about them.”
An interesting fact I found out about Huxley was that during World War I, Huxley spent much of his time at Garsington Manor, home of Lady Ottoline Morrell, working as a farm laborer. Not only this was interesting but the amount of travel spent in multiple countries. Huxley had spent his parts of his life in each location finding love, building a home, and examining the society.
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