Aldous Huxley: A Quest for Values / Edition 1

by Milton Birnbaum

Overview

In the moral vacuum and world of shifting values following World War I, Aldous Huxley was both a sensitive reflector and an articulate catalyst. This work provides a highly illuminating analysis of Huxley's evolution from skeptic to mystic. As Milton Birnbaum shows, in a perceptive interpretation of Huxley's poetry, fiction, essays and biographies—what evolved in Huxley's moral and intellectual pilgrimage was not so much a change in direction as a shift in emphasis. Even in the sardonic Huxley of the 1920s and 1930s, there is a moral concern. In the later Huxley, there are traces of the satirical skepticism which delighted his readers in the decades preceding World War II.A man of letters, a keen observer, seeker of new ways while profoundly knowledgeable in the truths of ancient wisdom, Huxley tried to achieve a symbiotic synthesis of the best of all worlds. In clarifying and interpreting Huxley's intellectual, moral, and philosophical development, Birnbaum touches upon all the subjects that came under the scrutiny of a singularly encyclopedic mind.This book is of great worth to those interested both in Huxley the brilliant satirist and in Huxley the seeker of salvation. In his search, Huxley typified the modern quest for values. Milton Birnbaum's study is an invaluable guide in that journey. His new introduction takes account of research and analysis of Huxley that has occurred since this book's original publication.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781412805087
Publisher:	Transaction Publishers
Publication date:	01/10/2005
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	250
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Milton Birnbaum is the retired Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences and professor of English at American International College. He has contributed articles on English and American literature to many journals and has published satiric articles in The Chronicle of Higher Education under the logo of -Higher Education, Eh?'-

Table of Contents

I: Introduction; II: Huxley’s Heritage and Environment; III: The Nature of Reality; IV: Huxley’s Character Types; V: Huxley Among The Muses; VI: Education; VII: The Societal Self; VIII: Love and Nature; IX: Science and Technology; X: Religion; XI: Conclusions