Eyeless in Gaza

Aldous Huxley, Jamie Parker

eAudio - 2024

Though somewhat overshadowed by Brave New World and The Doors of Perception, Huxley's modernist novel Eyeless in Gaza (1936) is often regarded as his finest work. The writer and historian Simon Heffer dubbed it, unequivocally, 'his only great novel.' The plot centres on Anthony Beavis, a dilettante social theorist, a man inclined to recoil from life. The pleasures of the physical world disgust him and the universe of ideas is but a poor refuge. Having long lost the art of intimacy, he betrays friendships and toys with the affections of women. But as Beavis approaches middle age, his world of perfect detachment begins to lose its appeal. Finally realising that his withdrawal from life has been motivated not by intellectual hon...esty but by moral cowardice, Beavis, devastated and at crisis point, meets the remarkable and redoubtable Dr Miller. The novel's style and setting create a unique atmosphere. Placed mainly in the inter-war years of the 20th century, the story is told... more