Aldous Huxley recollected

Publishers Weekly - Cahners\\Publishers_Weekly

English author Huxley (1894-1963) moved to the U.S. in 1937 after he had written the books for which he is best remembered, including Antic Hay (1923), Brave New World (1932) and Eyeless in Gaza (1936). Through interviews he conducted with 24 of Huxley's family members, colleagues and friends, Dunaway (How Can I Keep from Singing?) here attempts, with little success, a reevaluation of the years Huxley spent in California. According to Dunaway, critics have dismissed the Hollywood Huxley's screenplays (e.g., Jane Eyre, 1944) as well as his writings on psychedelic drugs and mysticism (Doors of Perception, 1954). Although the comments of his second wife, Laura, and friend Peggy Kiskadden provide insight into Huxley's spiritual concerns and document the severity of his loss of eyesight, many of the interviews never rise above anecdotes about the writer's personal habits and do not evaluate his work. This is gossip masquerading as literary history.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

English author Huxley (1894-1963) moved to the U.S. in 1937 after he had written the books for which he is best remembered, including Antic Hay (1923), Brave New World (1932) and Eyeless in Gaza (1936). Through interviews he conducted with 24 of Huxley's family members, colleagues and friends, Dunaway (How Can I Keep from Singing?) here attempts, with little success, a reevaluation of the years Huxley spent in California. According to Dunaway, critics have dismissed the Hollywood Huxley's screenplays (e.g., Jane Eyre, 1944) as well as his writings on psychedelic drugs and mysticism (Doors of Perception, 1954). Although the comments of his second wife, Laura, and friend Peggy Kiskadden provide insight into Huxley's spiritual concerns and document the severity of his loss of eyesight, many of the interviews never rise above anecdotes about the writer's personal habits and do not evaluate his work. This is gossip masquerading as literary history. (Apr.)

Library Journal

Though the brilliant Brave New World remains a classic dystopian novel, no one reads or teaches the dozens of other books Huxley wrote-neither the bright satires of the Twenties nor the earnest later works that seek mystical truth. Just missing Huxley's 1994 centenary, this oral bigraphy by University of New Mexico professor Dunaway (Huxley in Hollywood, LJ 10/15/89) emphasizes the American years from 1937 on. If the book fails to restore Huxley's lost reputation, it's nonetheless agreeable to hear the chorus of friends and relatives remembering a fascinating person. What a journey: in his last years this turn-of-the-century Eton boy became an early experimenter with psychedelic drugs. Dunaway puts the reader in contact with the somewhat odd personality rather than the intellectual and artist, but the pretentious concluding essay on the difficulties of oral history should have been cut. For informed lay readers and specialists in the field.-Keith Cushman, Univ. of North Carolina, Greensboro

Donna Seaman

When Dunaway launched his investigation into Aldous Huxley's life, he was surprised to discover that the books Huxley wrote during his fruitful California years were all but ignored by the critics. He set out to correct this glaring oversight, first in "Huxley in Hollywood" (1989) and now in this fascinating collection of anecdotal and interpretative interviews. A skilled oral historian, Dunaway talked with two dozen of Huxley's family members, friends, and colleagues, then distilled their conversations into a vivid and shimmering account of the writer's passions and endeavors. Huxley was a striking and memorable man. His severely limited vision didn't keep him from accomplishing herculean intellectual feats nor from taking immense pleasure in nature and art, but it did lead to a preoccupation with seeing, both visually and metaphorically. His quest for improved vision and mystical knowledge was a constant impetus. Dunaway's articulate interviewees include the renowned librarian Lawrence Powell, Christopher Isherwood, Burgess Meredith, and a host of friends and relatives.