About the Author

Aldous Huxley was born in Godalming, Surrey on July 26, 1894.  Even though Huxley was nearly blind, he studied at Balliol College, Oxford, and achieved his B.A. in English in 1916. Huxley’s father, who was also interested in English, was a biographer, editor, and poet.  When Huxley was 16, he suffered an attack of and for 18 months was completely blind.  He overcame his disability by wearing special eyeglasses.  Also, it helps that one of his eyes slightly recovered.  He did learn to read brail, but with his glasses can read as well.  From 1921, with his first novel (Crome Yellow) to 1929 finishing with Do What You Will, Huxley wrote ten novels in 8 years.  He was very successful with his slightly cynical tone in his novels.  Huxley also has a great amount of dialogue in his works, and includes a lot of social criticism.  He began using LSD, and it is obvious in his later works that the drug affected his writing.  Huxley was remarried, he took drugs, and he was declined citizenship into the United States, but above all that he turned out to be a great writer.

Huxley’s other novels include his first Crome Yellow (1921), Point Counter Point (1928), Devils of Loudon (1952), and Do What You Will (1929). Another novel with a Utopian theme that Huxley has written is called Island, where a reporter lands on an unknown island and finds very happy mysterious people.  These are only a few of his other pieces of literature.  A couple of his novels have to do with a Utopia, and most have different story lines than average.  He does not only write novels, he has released poetry, essays, and other works.

Timeline

1894- Aldous Huxley was born

1916- Received his B.A. in English

1916- First Collection of poetry released

1919- Married Maria Nys

1920- Had a son Mathew

1920s- Moved to Italy

1921- Published his first novel (Crome Yellow)

1930s- Moved to Sanary (where he wrote Brave New World)

1937- Moved to United States (he thought the Californian climate would help his eyesight) Somewhat of a turning point in his life, he began to focus more on essays and stopped writing fiction

1949- Huxley wrote a letter to George Orwell (author of 1984, contains a similar theme to Brave New World) and congratulated him on his work. He also wrote that he believed the government would become similar to the depiction in both novels in the next generation.

1958- Brave New World is released

1960- Diagnosed with cancer

1963- Died