Description
Book SynopsisBest-selling author Aldous Huxley''s American years have been a period literary historians discounted. His reputation suffered after his exile to California, which he undertook partly for the sake of his failing sight, partly out of disappointment with the European peace movement, and partly in search of new spiritual direction. With his move to California, Huxley became part of Hollywood''s Golden Age, working alongside such noted figures as Charlie Chaplin, Greta Garbo, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Bertolt Brecht and Christopher Isherwood. During this time Huxley published nineteen books. His writing and life underwent many transformations, and many crucial unanswered questions remained about his sojourn. Were the writings of the American years as self-indulgent as critics claimed? How did cinematic conventions influence his art? Did he ever reach that unitary mystical experience he sought throughout the last decades of his life? Prominent oral historian and biographer David Dunaway responds
Table of Contentschapter 1 Preface "Aldous" chapter 2 Introduction chapter 3 I England: Family, Youth, Parenthood (1894-1936) chapter 4 II Hollywood (1937-1941) chapter 5 III Llano and Wrightwood (1941-1949) chapter 6 IV Los Angeles (1949-1956) chapter 7 V Hollywood Hills (1956-1963) chapter 8 VI His Legacy and Critical Reception Today chapter 9 Notes chapter 10 Acknowledgements chapter 11 Checklist of Major Publications and Residences chapter 12 Contributors chapter 13 Appendices: The Aldous Huxley Oral History Project Transcribing and Editing Oral History Oral Literary History and Oral Biography chapter 14 Photo Insert chapter 15 chapter 16
