SOURCE: “Debate Between Body and Soul,” in The CEA Critic, Vol. XXVI, No. 9, June, 1964, pp. 1, 4.

In the following essay, Beringause contends that an analysis of “The Gioconda Smile” reveals that Huxley is more than a “negative propagandist who satirizes negative nostrums.”

Study of Aldous Huxley's well-known and consistently misinterpreted short story “The Gioconda Smile” reveals that his application of Freudian theory to art early made him into a much better craftsman than his critics have been willing to admit. This is not to imply that he accepted psychoanalysis and rejected religion.

Using sordid details of a vulgar love affair as a means for spiritual revelation, Huxley in “The Gioconda Smile” strategically blends wit, irony and pathos to achieve a deep intensity. Eager like every serious writer to chart his world for the reader, Huxley exercises cunning control of word and allusion until the pattern of life and death...