Huxley, Aldous
Aldous Leonard Huxley (1894–1963) was a British writer best known for his 1932 novel Brave New World, which portrays the dehumanizing aspects of scientific and technological progress. Born in Godalming, Surrey, England on July 26, Huxley's poor eyesight kept him from an early goal of becoming a scientist. After attending Oxford University and achieving fame as the author of several novels, in 1937 Huxley moved to California, where he became a screenwriter. Later he experimented with psychedelic drugs and incorporated mysticism into his work. Huxley died from throat cancer in Hollywood on November 22.
A moralist, social satirist, and interdisciplinary intellectual, in The Perennial Philosophy (1942) Huxley sought to identify the origin of being, prior to the fragmentation of experience into diverse languages, religions, and systems of knowledge. In the present age, however, he realized that reconnecting with such a foundation would involve reconciling humanity to the social and spiritual consequences brought about by science and technology (Murray 2002). To this end, Huxley often used literature to advance the causes of social sanity and personal enlightenment. Three themes are central to this life-long project: relations between literature and science; science, technology, and the abuse of power in emerging mass societies; and the potential for science and technology to enrich or corrode human nature.
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