Who was Aldous Huxley?
Novelist.
Date and Place of Birth:
26th July 1894, Godalming, Surrey, England.
Family Background:
Grandson of T.H.
Huxley and third child of the writer and biographer Leonard
Huxley. His mother was the niece of Mathew Arnold the poet and granddaughter
of Thomas Arnold a headmaster at Rugby School. His father was the
third son of the writer and schoolmaster Leonard Huxley.
Education:
Hillside School. Eton College.
Studied literature at Balliol College, Oxford.
Chronology/Biography of Aldous Huxley:
1887: Birth
of his elder brother Julian who was to become a famous biologist.
1891: Birth of his
half brother Noel Trevenen who was later to commit suicide due to
depression.
1908: Death of his
mother.
1910: Suffered
an illness, keratitis punctata, which made his eyesight so bad he
needed to learn braille. He recovered some vision later.
1916: Disqualified
from service in the First World War due to near blindness. he produced
his first book. A collection of poems. Taught briefly at Eton after
leaving university where Eric Arthur Blair
(George Orwell) was one of his pupils. This was a disastrous
period due to his inability to keep discipline in class.
1917: During this
period Aldous Huxley spent a lot of his time working as a farm labourer
at Garsington Manor which was the home of Lady Ottoline Morrell.
He met several notable people from the Bloomsbury Group such as
Bertrand Russell and Clive Bell whilst
at the house.
1918: Employed by
the Air Ministry.
1920: Birth
of his only child Matthew Huxley. Traveled extensively in France,
Italy and then India and the USA.
1920's: Worked in
the Brunner and Mond chemical plant at Billingham in Teesside where
he was to learn much of the technology that appeared in his novels.
He also lived in Italy where he became a friend of D.H.
Lawrence.
1930: Huxley has
dinner with the occultist Aleister Crowley in Berlin.
1931: Writes
his most famous work "Brave New World" in four months.
1933: Huxley edited
the literary papers of D.H. Lawrence
who had died in 1930.
1937: Moves
to the United States of America and lives in Hollywood, Los Angeles
with his wife and son.
1938: Huxley
becomes a screenwriter for the Hollywood movie industry. He became
interested in mysticism, vegetarianism and meditation and became
a friend of J. Krishnamurti. He was also influenced by the Hindu
Swami Prabhavananda and the Vedanta Society of Southern California.
Here he was introduced to Christopher Isherwood.
1939: Won the James
Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction with the satirical novel "After
Many a Summer".
1940: He wrote the
screenplay for "Pride and Prejudice." Huxley moved out
of town to a ranch in Llano, California in desert country where
his eyesight improved slightly.
1944: He wrote the
screenplay for "Jane Eyre". His
script for Alice in Wonderland was turned down by Disney as the
great man could only understand one word in three. Huxley wrote
an introduction to the "Bhagavad Gita: The Song of God"
which had been translated by Swami Prabhavanada and Christopher
Isherwood.
1945: After the end
of World War Huxley's applications to become an American Citizen
were continuously turned down as he refused to say he would fight
for the United States.
1949: He wrote to
George Orwell complementing him on his
novel "Nineteen Eighty Four".
1953: The psychiatrist
Humphry Osmond introduced him to the drug mescaline.
1955: Huxley took
his first dose of the psychedelic drug LSD. His first wife Maria
died of breast cancer.
1958: Writes
"Brave New World Revisited which discusses problems such as
over population.
1959: He refuses
an offer of a Knight Bachelor by the Macmillan Government on the
grounds of lack of citizenship.
1960: Huxley
is diagnosed with laryngeal cancer.
1962: He gave
lectures on Human potentialities as the Esalen Institute which were
a basis of the philosophical Human Potential Movement.
1963: On his deathbed
he wrote a note to Laura to administer him LSD his his muscles.
He died about one hour before the assassination of President John
F Kennedy. (C.S. Lewis also dies on the same day).
(1968): Laura,
his new wife, wrote "This Timeless Moment", a biography
of Aldous Huxley.
Written Works:
- 1921: "Crome
Yellow
- 1928: "Point
Counter Point"
- 1936: "Eyeless
in Gaza"
- 1937: "Ends
and Means"
- 1939:
"After Many a Summer". (Satire)
- 1932:
"Brave New World".
- 1938: "The
Perennial Philosophy"
- 1942:
"The Art of Seeing which was published
in 1942"
- 1954:
"The Doors of Perception".
- 1959:
"Brave New World Revisited".
- 1962: "Island"
Marriage:
1. 1919 to Maria Nys, daughter of a Belgian industrialist
who he met whilst at Garsington Hall. (died).
2. 1956 to Laura Archera, a writer.
Date and Place of Death:
22nd November 1963, Los Angeles, United States
of America.
Age at Death:
69.
Site of Grave:
Ashes interred in the family grave at the Watts
Cemetery, near Guildford, Surrey, England.
