An engaging and clever novel that tells the story of Anthony Beavis' life in a non-chronological masterpiece. Beautifully the tale moves from decade to decade, event to event, backwards and forwards in time whilst even more majestically all coming together to create the story itself. A fantastic read. ( )

Reason read: 2023, Oct botm Reading 1001

This story takes place during the early 1900s to 1930's and tells the story of Anthony Beavis. He lost his mother and then he lives much of his life closed off emotionally from others. He has affairs with older women and their daughters. He betrays his one good friend and is admittedly a coward. After going through several relationships, death of his friend, an encounter with a doctor in Mexico, Anthony has a heart change. He becomes an active pacifist. Historically the book is set during the WWI, post WWI, Spanish Civil War, the depression, and pre WWII with a look at the decadence of Germany with it s Cabaret life style. The story is not told chronologically and jumps back and forth from time before and after the death of his friend, Brian. This was a definite turning point for Anthony. The characters are numerous and a bit hard to keep track of all them but the story line is linked to there motivations and desires and their overall change. The side trips into dialogues of philosophizing could have been shortened and this would have not hurt the story in any way. The book is not the one people think of when they think of Huxley but it is probably his best book. I will remember this one. The title is from the Bible story of Samson after Delilah betrays him to the philistines and he is blinded and made to work as a slave. ( )

Eyeless in Gaza is considered a novel that is difficult to read because of its narrative structure consisting of random flash backs. It is Aldous Huxley's most autobiographical novel. With this in mind, the key to the structure of the novel is the author's birthdate. Aldous Huxley was born on 26 July 1894. The main character in the book was born on that date, and the flash backs to apparently random dates can be understood as mental flashbacks. This is just the way the mind works! The structure of the novel is entirely clear after the reader has internalized the age of the main character.

I have read many books by Aldous Huxley but never a biography. The introduction by David Bradshaw merely consists of a short biography of Huxley's life, without any interpretation of the novel. The novel's plot mirrors the life of the author, with focal points around the tree most traumatic events in Huxley's life being the death of his mother, his temporary loss of eye sight and the suicide of his brother.

I would not agree to the idea that Eyeless in Gaza is Huxley's most philosophical novel, but it is perhaps the heaviest, most pondersome. Most of his other novels are light and humorous. ( )

> Grandes oeuvres d'Aldous Huxley "LA PAIX DES PROFONDEURS" (Editions la table ronde). — Gabriel Véraldi et Brigitte Véraldi, auteurs d’une thèse de doctorat sur les sources philosophiques et scientifiques d'Aldous Huxley ont entrepris de rééditer en les présentant d’une préface les plus grandes oeuvres de “saint Aldous" (entendu quelque part pour la première Ibis en 1936, est demeuré longtemps introuvable depuis lors. Il nous est présenté ici, dans une nouvelle traduction signée Brigitte Véraldi. Les coins arrondis, c’est un roman auto-biographique; dans la vie, comme dans le roman, Aldous Huxley et Anthony Beavis ne font qu’un. C’est l’histoire de l’érudit, qui, lorsqu’il pousse son raisonnement à ses ultimes limites, se voit dans l’obligation de déboucher “Hailleur” ou dans l’absurde. L’histoire de l’intellectuel qui ayant choisi la deuxième solution a longtemps boudé la vie. La considérant futile et luttant désespérément contre le sens qu'il sait pouvoir lui donner; jusqu’au jour, où par la voix de la raison, celle même qui le tenait prisonnier, il cédera.
Le chemin est aride et la vérité crue de certains passages nous laisse un goût amer de “Déjà vu’’. Le dernier grand coup porte à la banale et triste réalité du quotidien avec ses hypocrisies incomptables à tous le niveaux: comédie, sourire anatomique, confrontation, ego-trip... Mais c’est sans pardon: la rupture finale avec le “terre à terre" par son exposition à grand focus.
Le remède est efficace et ne peut que porter ses fruits. Après la lecture de “la paix des profondeurs”, l’entrée dans l’autre monde, devient une nécessité. La finesse, l’érudition, l’analyse et l’humour d'Huxley se transforment en une nourriture particulièrement jouissive pour l’esprit. Les freaks y mordront à pleine dent. On y suit le cheminement intérieur d’Huxley, qui aboutira on le sait en 1950 avec “Les portes de la perception” à l’expérience des psychotropes: mescaline et L.S.D. (Michel DUMAS)
—Mainmise, (72), Sept.-Oct. 1977, (p. 42)

> Babelio : https://www.babelio.com/livres/Huxley-La-paix-des-profondeurs/50916

> HUXLEY (Aldous). LA PAIX DES PROFONDEURS. Plon. 33 fr. — Le romancier met en scène un jeune homme, Anthony, qui doué d'une vive intelligence, d’une forte culture et possédant, par surcroît, une fortune qui le rend indépendant, ne peut, au milieu de ses hésitations et de ses remords, trouver un but à la vie. Devant le spectacle du monde et les émotions, il prend l’attitude d'un observateur détaché et désabusé, s’efforçant de noter d’une façon purement objective et désintéressé, ce qu’il voit pour en faire la matière d'un traité de sociologie. Mais, de désillusion en désillusion, il finit par s’apercevoir que le seul moyeu de vivre pleinement est, au contraire, d'entrer en sympathie avec tous les hommes, de les comprendre, de les aimer et d’atteindre ainsi, après avoir quitté les remous superficiels, la paix des profondeurs.
—Le jour indépendant politique, littéraire et artistique, (31 déc. 1937)

"Hell is the incapacity to be other than the creature one finds oneself ordinarily behaving as."

Eyeless in Gaza was first published in 1936 and said to be the most auto-biographical of all Huxley's works. The novel centres around Anthony Beavis and his group of friends spanning their lives from childhood to middle age during the first decades of the 20th century. The story is told in non-sequential chapters and from differing characters' perspective.

It is a pretty hefty tome and isn't a particularly easy read yet many commentators seem to believe it to be the greatest of the author's books, so why didn't I like it more?

Firstly; it's length, it's just too long, featuring far too many inconsequential details and sub-plots that add nothing to the overall tale.

Secondly; I found it far too difficult. The non-sequential nature of the novel did have the effect of allowing two strands of the story, one taking place in 1914 featuring the sad demise of Beavis's childhood friend Brian, the other following Anthony's and Mark's trip to Mexico to join an insurrection there in 1934, to come to a climax almost simultaneously for the reader. However, on the other hand this disjointed style hindered rather than aided my understanding of the overall message that Huxley was trying to convey. I found myself trying to remember just who the characters were and what their relationships were in the various time periods. On several occasions I found myself flipping back to a previous chapter to remind myself. Perhaps a series of flashbacks would have proved more manageable.

Thirdly; there were just too many big ideas vying for prominence, ideas concerning the great social and artistic upheavals of the day being espoused by wealthy privileged individuals who seem to have little contact or in common with the masses making them seem like unreliable commentators. Equally I found the overall bleak outlook, the defeatism and pacifism on show at the end of the novel something of a dampener. Huxley seems be trying to prove that there is more to life than love but ultimately concludes that really there isn't.

On a couple of occasions I was tempted to give up on this book but there also elements of this book which I found enjoyable. The characterisation was generally well done as was the depiction of their surroundings. At times Huxley displays a certain satirical humour whilst at times, particularly the section involving Anthony and Mark in Mexico, the author proves that he could, if he wanted to be, an entertaining storyteller.

Having read and enjoyed the author's Brave New World I was looking forward to reading this book but found it somewhat over-blown and disappointing. Oh well, you can't win 'em all. ( )