Essays
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Overview
These first two volumes of a projected five, in preparation for several years, begin a major publishing venture, collecting the complete essays of one of the giants of modern English prose and of social commentary in our time. The first two volumes span the most productive period of Huxley's career. Volume I begins with his essays for Gilbert Murray's Athenaeum and his music essays for the New Westminster Gazette. Volume II continues through the 1920s and includes his controversial essays on India and the empire in "Jesting Pilate." The essays of both volumes range from nuanced assessments of art and architecture to political analyses, history, science, religion, and art, and a newly discovered series on music. Wide-ranging, allusive, and witty, they are informed by the probing skepticism of a highly educated and ironically incisive member of the English upper middle class. Huxley's fascination with the codes and conventions of European culture, his growing apprehensions about the menacing collapse of the European political order, and his awareness of the impact of science and technology on the post-Versailles world of England, France, Germany, and the United States form the basis for his critique. His subjects overlap with the satirical novels he wrote during the period between the wars, culminating in Point Counter Point and Brave New World. At their best, these essays stand among the finest examples of the genre in modern literature.Synopsis
These first two volumes of a projected six collect the complete essays of one of the major writers of the 20th century. His reading was immense, his taste impeccable, and his ear acute...His place in English literature is unique and is certainly assured. —T. S. Eliot. Edited with Commentary by Robert S. Baker and James Sexton.
Atlantic Monthly
An important and admirable publishing venture exceptionally edited and organized.
Editorials
The New Yorker
To read all the essays in sequence is like being enrolled at the college of your dreams.The Washington Times
A remarkable publishing event...these volumes return Huxley from our forgetfulness so as to enjoy his fine intelligence, prose and exemplary strengths.— Jeffrey Hart
Times Literary Supplement, (Books Of The Year, Dec.) -
Perusing Volume One, I was struck by the sensitivity and the unerring perception in these unknown reviews, ultimately my most enjoyable reading of the year.Times Literary Supplement -
The editors...have done their job with commendable thoroughness.Los Angeles Times -
He writes with an easy assurance and a command of classical and modern cross-references.The Washington Times -
A remarkable publishing event...these volumes return Huxley from our forgetfulness so as to enjoy his fine intelligence, prose and exemplary strengths.The Times Library
Ultimately my most enjoyable reading of the year.Economist
There is much to enjoy in these volumes...they are important as a document of his times.New Yorker
To read all the essays in sequence is like being enrolled at the college of your dreams.Los Angeles Times
He writes with an easy assurance and a command of classical and modern cross-references.— Christopher Hitchens
Atlantic Monthly
An important and admirable publishing event.Washington Times
A remarkable publishing event...these volumes return Huxley from our forgetfulness so as to enjoy his fine intelligence, prose and exemplary strengths.— Jeffrey Hart
Times Literary Supplement
The editors...have done their job with commendable thoroughness.— P. N. Furbank
Los Angeles Times
He writes with an easy assurance and a command of classical and modern cross-references.— Hitchens, Christopher
The New Yorker
To read all the essays in sequence is like being enrolled at the college of your dreams.Atlantic Monthly
An important and admirable publishing venture…exceptionally edited and organized.Booknews
Volume I of a projected six-volume collection of Huxley's essays. Spanning the years between 1920 and 1925, it includes his essays for John Middleton Murry's and those on music for the , as well as his most polished social satires. The writings range from nuanced assessments of art and architecture to political analyses, history, science, religion, and art, and a newly discovered series on music. Reflecting many of the issues and anxieties of the interwar period, Huxley's work comprises a documentary tour of Europe at the time and represents the probing skepticism of a member of the English upper middle class. Edited with commentary by Baker (English, U. of Wisconsin) and Sexton (English, Camosun College). Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, ORBook Details
Published
October 1, 2000
Publisher
Dee, Ivan R. Publisher
Pages
510
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9781566633222