Aldous Leonard Huxley
born Godalming, Surrey, England: 26 July 1894
died Compton, Surrey, England: 22 November 1963
Aldous Huxley was an English author and philosopher. He wrote over 50 books of non-fiction, fiction, essays and poetry.
Most of his best fiction was written early in his career in the 1920’s, but he is best known today for three works; The Doors of Perception (1954), concerning his own psychedelic experience with mescaline; and his two novels, Brave New World (1932) and Island (1962) which present visions of dystopia and utopia respectively.
Brave New World introduced the terms ‘soma’ (originally from Sir Thomas More's Utopia [1517]) and ‘feelie’ to the English language. Soma refers to a psychedelic drug used for social control, while feelies are multisensory or VR movies. The book also presented a concept of pharmacological totalitarianism.
Island acts as a counterpart to Brave New World and is set on the islands of Pala and Rendang. Pala experiences a euphoric state through a religious practice called moksha, which produces a state not unlike ‘soma’.
A list of his works is to be found here: https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?1672
Wikipedia page: Aldous Huxley - Wikipedia
born Godalming, Surrey, England: 26 July 1894
died Compton, Surrey, England: 22 November 1963
Aldous Huxley was an English author and philosopher. He wrote over 50 books of non-fiction, fiction, essays and poetry.
Most of his best fiction was written early in his career in the 1920’s, but he is best known today for three works; The Doors of Perception (1954), concerning his own psychedelic experience with mescaline; and his two novels, Brave New World (1932) and Island (1962) which present visions of dystopia and utopia respectively.
Brave New World introduced the terms ‘soma’ (originally from Sir Thomas More's Utopia [1517]) and ‘feelie’ to the English language. Soma refers to a psychedelic drug used for social control, while feelies are multisensory or VR movies. The book also presented a concept of pharmacological totalitarianism.
Island acts as a counterpart to Brave New World and is set on the islands of Pala and Rendang. Pala experiences a euphoric state through a religious practice called moksha, which produces a state not unlike ‘soma’.
A list of his works is to be found here: https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?1672
Wikipedia page: Aldous Huxley - Wikipedia
