This is one of the best collections of essays that Mr. Huxley has ever made. The title-piece is a completely new departure in technique from anything he has written before: a meditation, darting from topic to topic, on the olive tree, and the associations which it has for the author. His now famous Introduction to the letters of D.H. Lawrence is included; there is an essay entitled 'Justifications' which gives comic instances of the rationalisation of irrational impulses, and analyses the mechanism of justification; there is an essay on Thomas Henry Huxley as a literary man—-and as anyone who has read the Diary of the Voyage of H.M.S. Rattlesnake can testify, the great scientist's charm and craftsmanship were both considerable—-a long essay which considers the influence of books and propaganda; an essay on 'English Snobbery', 'Time and the Machine' and other diverse subjects, all of which are treated with the wit and the learning to which Mr. Huxley has made us accustomed. This description is from the first-edition dust jacket (1935)
Author
Brave New World (1932), best-known work of British writer Aldous Leonard Huxley, paints a grim picture of a scientifically organized utopia. This most prominent member of the famous Huxley family of England spent the part of his life from 1937 in Los Angeles in the United States until his death. Best known for his novels and wide-ranging output of essays, he also published short stories, poetry, travel writing, and film stories and scripts. Through novels and essays, Huxley functioned as an examiner and sometimes critic of social mores, norms and ideals. Spiritual subjects, such as parapsychology and philosophical mysticism, interested Huxley, a humanist, towards the end of his life. People widely acknowledged him as one of the pre-eminent intellectuals of his time before the end of his life.
