Huxley - Antic Hay

[den]

Has anybody read this book?

I think it's one of his best, I have read it many times, the current copy of it I have is all dog-eared and slowly falling apart.

It was one of his first widely read publications (after Crome Yellow which was his first). It's a scathing commentary of bohemian London in the 1920's.

The satirical jokes about The Key to the Absolute were probably foreshadowing of Huxleys' own path of mystical enlightenment, and the philosophical and moral pessimism themes running rampant in this book were probably part of his development to writing Brave New World 10 years later.

If anything, there is a strong element of the auto-biographical in this book which is something I always appreciate when reading an author, I like to get an understanding of who they were in real life too, and while some of the characters in this book are outrageous, not too far from how absurd some people really are.

[t_fiser]

Yes I am reading it for the first time, but have you read other books of the period
Satre, Waugh,
do not tell me what is the end
I would like to discuss Antic Hay with somebody who actully read it, It is a Mighty Fine Work,
Aw Ra, Thomas

[briefcandle]

Hello den!
Antic Hay is definitely one of my favourite of Huxley.. both Mrs. Viveash and Lucy Tantamount (of Point Counter Point, another Huxley satire that you might like) have shadows of the real life Nancy Cunard. I recommend Sybille Bedford's biography of Huxley if you want to know more about the author's life. It's a great read too. Sadly Bedford just died a week ago.