Aldous Huxley, 1894-1963, a contemporary of C.S. Lewis, brother of Sir Julian Huxley, and grandson of the famous T.H. Huxley, took a first in English at Balliol College, Oxford. He is now best known for his science fiction oriented future vision, 'Brave New World'.
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In this short novel, a tale of love and desire published in 1955, he displays his outstanding ability in dialogue as two older men recount their relationship with the genius-professor of quantum physics and his goddess-wife, a mere mortal, but a Valkyrie-beauty and of Olympian character. At times the style is of a brilliance which rises to poetry, born of a rare genius which spans the two cultures of the sciences and the humanities with grace, wit, and ease - a performance entirely fitting Huxley's illustrious background and educational achievements. He dances his story between special relativity, the Muses, theology and philosophy, and back to general relativity with unparalleled elan.
The professor, brilliantly portrayed, desperately needs the wife: biologically, emotionally, and socially. She loves him as a matriarch; she meets his every need, bears his children, and is the incarnation of an emotional and philosophical pagan fortitude, which almost makes the ultimately disillusioned and deficient morality of the tale almost right. She is the person who lives the truth, 'Let the dead bury their dead. If you want to live at every moment as it presents itself, you've got to die to every other moment'.
The review of this Book prepared by Michael JR Jose
