Huxley

Brief Candles (1930), Aldous Huxley's fifth collection of short fiction, consists of the following four short stories: "Chawdron" "The Rest Cure" "The Claxtons" "After the Fireworks" Brief Candles takes its title from a line in William Shakespeare's Macbeth, from Macbeth's famous soliloquy: "Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."

While shipwrecked on the island of Pala, Will Farnaby, a disenchanted journalist, discovers a utopian society that has flourished for the past 120 years. Although he at first disregards the possibility of an ideal society, as Farnaby spends time with the people of Pala his ideas about humanity change. HarperPerennial Classics brings great works of literature to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperPerennial Classics collection to build your digital library.

In one of his most significant pieces of non-fiction, the mind behind Brave New World presents a thorough and articulate comparison of different forms of mysticism. Written for an audience presumed to be primarily familiar with Christianity, The Perennial Philosophy aims to extract greater theological truths from the common threads found across religions, and to explore how they can be used to judge mankind (and how it often fails to meet the standards set). It primarily consists of quotations taken from famous figures within each tradition, with short connecting passages written by Huxley. Random House of Canada is proud to bring you classic works of literature in ebook form, with the highest quality production values. Find more today and rediscover books you never knew you loved.

Two great classics come to life in one of the most loved books in American History. Remastered to include Illustrated exercises, a biography of Aldous Huxley, and including the full essay of Heaven and Hell, and The Doors to Perception, this book is a great gift to those who are unfamiliar with his work, or may have forgotten about Huxley's famous contemplations of life and death. - ZKBS(c) All Rights Reserved.

“An outstanding book.”—James Sexton “A welcome and necessary update of the life of one of the twentieth century's most provocative intellectuals.”—Dana Sawyer A rich and lucid account of Aldous Huxley’s life and work. Aldous Huxley was one of the twentieth century’s most prescient thinkers. This new biography is a rich and lucid account that charts the different phases of Huxley’s career: from the early satirist who depicted the glamorous despair of the postwar generation, to the committed pacifist of the 1930s, the spiritual seeker of the 1940s, the psychedelic sage of the 1950s—who affirmed the spiritual potential of mescaline and LSD—to the New Age prophet of Island. While Huxley is still best known as the author of Brave New World, Jake Poller argues that it is The Perennial Philosophy, The Doors of Perception, and Island—Huxley’s blueprint for a utopian society—that have had the most cultural impact.

Aldous Huxley’s unforgettable tale of a brilliant physicist, his beautiful wife, and the young man who tears their world apart. Thirty years ago, ecstasy and torment took hold of John Rivers, shocking him out of “half-baked imbecility into something more nearly resembling the human form.” He had an affair with the wife of his mentor, Henry Maartens—a pathbreaking physicist, winner of the Nobel Prize, and a figure of blinding brilliance—bringing the couple to ruin. Now, on Christmas Eve while a small grandson sleeps upstairs, John Rivers is moved to set the record straight about the great man and the radiant, elemental creature he married, who viewed the renowned genius through undazzled eyes.

Widely regarded as one of the great classic examples of dystopian fiction (along with Orwell’s 1984), Brave New World is a chilling tale of a world where humanity has given up love, art, freedom, and even choice, all in the name of stability and happiness. This stability is rocked when the long-lost son of one of their highest caste is found living on a savage reservation. Devoid of the careful subliminal education that all people normally receive, the savage stands as a contradiction to everything that society values. His presence in their midst forces others to question these same values, and threatens to change their lives forever. Penguin Random House Canada is proud to bring you classic works of literature in e-book form, with the highest quality production values. Find more today and rediscover books you never knew you loved.

This and the next Annual feature a collection of Aldous Huxley's early essays in art criticism, for the most part published anonymously. The present issue focuses on Huxley's critical approach to painting, particularly to Modernist works (Part I); The forthcoming Annual will concentrate on Huxley's appraisal of architecture, applied arts and sculpture in the 1920s (Part II). Bernfried Nugel is head of the Centre for Aldous Huxley Studies at the English Seminar of the University of Muenster (Germany). Jerome Meckier is a researcher at the University of Kentucky and at the Centre for Aldous Huxley Studies at the English Seminar of the University of Muenster.