Aldous Huxley

 (1894 - 1963)

Aldous Leonard Huxley was an English writer and one of the most prominent members of the famous Huxley family. Best known for his novels including Brave New World and a wide-ranging output of essays, Huxley also edited the magazine Oxford Poetry, and published short stories, poetry, travel writing, film stories and scripts. He spent the later part of his life in the United States, living in Los Angeles from 1937 until his death. Huxley was a humanist, pacifist, and satirist. He later became interested in spiritual subjects such as parapsychology and philosophical mysticism, in particular Vivekanda's Neo-Vedanta and Universalism. He is also well known for his advocacy and consumption of psychedelic drugs. By the end of his life Huxley was widely acknowledged as one of the pre-eminent intellectuals of his time.

Read by Jim Locke

Running Time:09:44:36 in 1 MP3 Audio CD

The epigram to this work from Christoher Marlowe applies to the plot of this story: "My men like satyrs grazing on the lawns / Shall with their goat-feet dance the antic hay." The plot follows Huxley and his cohorts in a search for meaning and hope and love in post WWI London.

Read by Martin Clifton

Running Time:6:05:57 in 1 MP3 Audio CD

Fascinating and brilliant at many levels, Huxley's spoof of Lady Ottoline Morrell's famous bohemian gatherings is difficult to categorize. The ironic tone and caricaturish rendering of some characters makes it partly entertaining satire, but intertwined with the irony are a very human love story and much poignant social commentary. Denis Stone (Huxley himself) is a young poet hopelessly enamored of the languid Anne Wimbush, who comes to Priscilla Wimbush's Crome estate for several weeks of intellectual and artistic escape. Along the way of his love affair, he engages in or eavesdrops upon conversations with other guests about the War, about eschatology, about future society, about Sex, about Art, about Love. Several of these dialogues directly foreshadow themes of Huxley's later dystopian masterpiece, Brave New World. Others show a tragic prescience of another great European war on its way, an awareness that future tragedy might attempt to complete the unfinished business of the recent Great War. Huxley's first novel, Crome Yellow is well worth reading in its own right, while containing embryonic forms of so much of Huxley's later intellectual themes.

Read by Larry Wilson, Arthur Krolman, Tony Oliva and Chris Pyle

Running Time:00:17:00 in 1 MP3 Audio CD

Though Aldous Huxley gained popularity from his novels and essays, he started his writing career as a poet. Jonah, his second compilation of poetry, is a collection of twelve poems (four of which are written in French). He published it, at the age of 23, for Christmas in 1917.

He stated his intention to stop writing poetry at the end of the volume, but actually went on to publish numerous compilations after Jonah.

1 - Jonah

2 - Behemoth

3 - Minoan Porcelain

4 - Zoo Celeste

5 - Sonnet a L'ingenue

6 - Dix-Huitieme Siecle

7 - Hommage a Jules Laforgue

8 - Sententious Song

9 - The Oxford Volunteers

10 - The Contemplative Soul

11 - The Bethrothal of Priapus

12 - Farewell to the Muses

Read by Sean Daeley, J. McDougall, Rohasfin, SkyAlbatross, 

Jacquelyn Bengfort, Jack Watson Warr and Mark Chulsky

Running Time:01:55:36 in 1 MP3 Audio CD

Though he gained recognition for his later essays and novels, Aldous Huxley started his writing career as a poet. Published in 1920, Leda is his fourth compilation of poetry.

It begins with the passionate and slightly erotic poem "Leda", which recalls the love affair between Queen Leda, the mother of Helen of Troy, and her swan, Zeus in disguise. Some short poems follow. The book ends with two long sections. The first, "Beauty," is a short collection of vignettes where the author reflects on the concept of beauty through an ideal model of physical desire, Helen of Troy. The second, "Soles Occidere et Redire Possunt," or "Suns Can Set, and Suns Can Rise Again," is another long poem which reflects a day in the life of John Ridley, a deceased friend of Huxley's, who was mentally challenged throughout his entire life.

1 - Leda, Part I

2 - Leda, Part II

3 - Leda, Part III

4 - Leda, Part IV

5 - The Birth of God

6 - On Hampstead Heath

7 - Sympathy

8 - Male and Female Created He Them

9 - From the Pillar

10 - Jonah

11 - Variations on a Theme

12 - A Melody of Scarlatti

13 - A Sunset

14 - Life and Art

15 - First Philosopher's Song

16 - Second Philosopher's Song

17 - Fifth Philosopher's Song

18 - Ninth Philosopher's Song

19 - Morning Scene

20 - Verrey's

21 - Frascatti's

22 - Fatigue

23 - The Merry-Go-Round

24 - Back Streets

25 - Last Things

26 - Gothic

27 - Evening Party

28 - Beauty, Parts I-V

29 - Beauty, Parts VI-VIII

30 - Soles Occidere et Redire Possunt, Foreward and Parts I-XI

Read by Doc DL Martin, Meliora Dockery, Todd H W,

 Marvin Larson and Rachel Costello

Running Time:05:52:06 in 1 MP3 Audio CD

This is Aldous Huxley's first collection of short stories, which consists of 6 stories and a play.

Characters in the play, "Happy Families", read by the following:

Aston: Todd H W

Aston's Dummy: James R. Hedrick

Topsy: C Zandra

Topsy's Dummy: C Zandra

Sir Jasper: Marvin Larson

Belle: Dawn Sutton

Henrika: Rachel Costello

Cain: Krista Zaleski

Stage Direction: Krista Zaleski

01 Farcical History Of Richard Greenow, Chapter I 

02 Farcical History Of Richard Greenow, Chapters II-V

03 Farcical History Of Richard Greenow, Chapter VI

04 Farcical History Of Richard Greenow, Chapter VII-IX 

05 Farcical History Of Richard Greenow, Chapter X

06 Happily Ever After , Chapters I-II 

07 Happily Ever After , Chapter III 

08 Happily Ever After , Chapter IV 

09 Eupompus Gave Splendour To Art By Numbers 

10 Happy Families (Dramatic Reading)

11 Cynthia 

12 The Bookshop 

13 The Death Of Lully Rachel Costello

Read by Kirsten Wever

Running Time:05:18:20 in 1 MP3 Audio CD

Aldous Huxley is best known as a philosopher and novelist – notably as the author of Brave New World. He also wrote poetry, short stories and critical essays. Most of his work is somewhat dark and mildly sardonic, partly because he came of age just after World War I, when all of Europe was in a state of cultural, political and social confusion. His novel, Crome Yellow, is a prime example.

Mortal Coils includes four short stories and a play, including one of the author’s most famous short works: "The Gioconda Smile." 

1 - The Gioconda Smile, Part 1

2 - The Gioconda Smile, Part 2

3 - Permutations Among the Nightingales

4 - The Tillotson Banquet, Part 1

5 - The Tillotson Banquet, Part 2

6 - Green Tunnels, Part 1

7 - Green Tunnels, Part 2

8 - Nuns at Luncheon

Read by Larry Wilson, Elizabeth Buchanan, Ezwa, Algy Pug, J. McDougall, Carol, Rik Ahlberg, 

Tanner Bayles, Tim Wash and Winston Tharp

Running Time:00:46:56 in 1 MP3 Audio CD

Though Aldous Huxley is best known for his later novels and essays, he started his writing career as a poet. The Burning Wheel is his first work, a collection of thirty poems that pay homage in style to poets who wrote in the Romantic or the French symbolist styles. Many of the poems deal with themes of light, darkness, sight, music, art, war, and idealism vs. realism. Though the optimism in his early works waned as he became older, his characteristically optimistic and determined point of view shines through.

The last poem was read collaboratively by Ezwa, AlgyPug and Larry Wilson.

1 - The Burning Wheel

2 - Doors of the Temple

3 - Villiers de L'Isle-Adam

4 - Darkness

5 - Mole

6 - The Two Seasons

7 - Two Realities

8 - Quotidian Vision

9 - Vision

10 - The Mirror

11 - Variations on a Theme of Laforgue

12 - Philosophy

13 - Philoclea in the Forest

14 - Books and Thoughts

15 - Contrary to Nature and Aristotle

16 - Escape

17 - The Garden

18 - The Canal

19 - The Ideal found wanting

20 - Misplaced Love

21 - (First) Sonnet

22 - Sentimental Summer

23 - The Choice

24 - The Higher Sensualism

25 - (Second) Sonnet

26 - Formal Verses

27 - Perils of the Small Hours

28 - Complaint

29 - Return to an Old Home

30 - Fragment

31 - The Walk

Read by Arthur Krolman; Bundy98; Renkotsu; Larry Wilson and J. McDougall

Running Time:01:23:18 in 1 MP3 Audio CD

The volume begins with "The Defeat of Youth", a sequence of twenty-two sonnets that explores irreconcilability of the ideal and the disappointing reality. Jerome Meckier called it “the century’s most successful sonnet sequence, better than Auden’s or Edna St. Vincent Millay’s.” In the rest of the volume, Huxley continues to explore themes started in The Burning Wheel, his first volume of poetry, including vision, blindness, and other contrasts.

The volume concludes with two English translations by Huxley of two French poems: Stéphane Mallarmé’s 1876 poem “L’Après-midi d’un faune" and Arthur Rimbaud’s (1871) poem “Les Chercheuses de poux,” translated as “The Louse Hunters.” 

1 - The Defeat of Youth: Under the Trees

2 - The Defeat of Youth: In the Hay-Loft

3 - The Defeat of Youth: Mountains

4 - The Defeat of Youth: In the Little Room

5 - The Defeat of Youth: In the Park

6 - The Defeat of Youth: Self Torment

7 - The Defeat of Youth: The Quarry in the Wood

8 - Song of Poplars

9 - The Reef

10 - Winter Dream

11 - The Flowers

12 - The Elms

13 - Out of the Window

14 - Inspiration

15 - Summer Stillness

16 - Anniversaries

17 - Italy

18 - The Alien

19 - A Little Memory

20 - Waking

21 - By the Fire

22 - Valedictory

23 - Love Song

24 - Private Property

25 - Revelation

26 - Minoan Porcelain

27 - The Decameron

28 - In Uncertainty to a Lady

29 - Crapulous Impression

30 - The Life Theoretic

31 - Complaint of a Poet Manqué

32 - Social Amenities

33 - Topiary

34 - On the Bus

35 - Points and Lines

36 - Panic

37 - Return from Business

38 - Stanzas

39 - Poem

40 - Scenes of the Mind

41 - L'Après-Midi D'un Faune

42 - The Louse-Hunters

by Aldous Huxley; Edith Sitwell; Osbert Sitwell; Sacheverell Sitwell; 

Sherard Vines and Alan Porter.

Read in by Nemo; Algy Pug; Newgatenovelist and Eva Davis

Running Time:02:20:13 in 1 MP3 Audio CD

The Fifth Cycle of the Wheels poetry anthology was published in 1920 and contains poems by Aldous Huxley, Alan Porter, Leah McTavish Coehn, Geoffrey Cookson, William Kean Seymour, John J. Adams, Sherard Vines, and Osbert, Edith and Sacheverell Sitwell. The book was dedicated to Mrs Arnold Bennett, who is described as “poetry’s greatest interpretative artist.” 

1 - Cornucopia by Osbert Sitwell - Osbert Sitwell

2 - Church Parade by Osbert Sitwell - Osbert Sitwell

3 - Sunday Afternoon by Osbert Sitwell - Osbert Sitwell

4 - De Luxe: Two poems by Osbert Sitwell - Osbert Sitwell

5 - At the House of Mrs Kinfoot by Osbert Sitwell - Osbert Sitwell

6 - Malgre Lui by Osbert Sitwell - Osbert Sitwell

7 - Fragment from “The Valley of the Giants” by Osbert Sitwell - Osbert Sitwell

8 - Mrs Prudential consults the Witch of Endor by Osbert Sitwell - Osbert Sitwell

9 - Theatre of Varieties by Aldous Huxley - Aldous Huxley

10 - Hard of Hearing by Alan Porter - Alan Porter

11 - Lovers by Alan Porter - Alan Porter

12 - Blind by Alan Porter - Alan Porter

13 - Child’s Song by Leah McTavish Cohen - Aldous Huxley

14 - Time by Geoffrey Cookson - Aldous Huxley

15 - Mist and Cloud by Geoffrey Cookson - Aldous Huxley

16 - Eden by Geoffrey Cookson - Aldous Huxley

17 - Porphryo by Geoffrey Cookson - Aldous Huxley

18 - The Crocodile Discourses by Geoffrey Cookson - Aldous Huxley

19 - The Ambush by William Kean Seymour - Aldous Huxley

20 - Stars by William Kean Seymour - Aldous Huxley

21 - The Flame by William Kean Seymour - Aldous Huxley

22 - Sramozan by William Kean Seymour - Aldous Huxley

23 - “Laughing Lions Will Come” by Sacheverell Sitwell - Sacheverell Sitwell

24 - Et in Arcadia, Omnes by Sacheverell Sitwell - Sacheverell Sitwell

25 - A Swiss Rhapsody by Sacheverell Sitwell - Sacheverell Sitwell

26 - Profiteer Williamson Pursues Culture by John J. Adams - Aldous Huxley

27 - Café Confidences by John J. Adams - Aldous Huxley

28 - Immanence by Sherard Vines - Sherard Vines

29 - The King’s Daughter by Sherard Vines - Sherard Vines

30 - Love Lyric by Sherard Vines - Sherard Vines

31 - The Dahlia by Sherard Vines - Sherard Vines

32 - The Soul’s Defence by Sherard Vines - Sherard Vines

33 - The Toilette of Myrrhine by Edith Sitwell - Edith Sitwell

34 - Eight More Bucolic Poems by Edith Sitwell - Edith Sitwell

35 - Press Cuttings - Edith Sitwell

36 - Bibliography - Edith Sitwell

by Francisco de Quevedo; Wilfred Owen; Aldous Huxley; Edith Sitwell; Osbert Sitwell;

 Sacheverell Sitwell; Iris Tree; Arnold James; Sherard Vines. 

Read in English by Nemo; Eva Davis; Algy Pug; Newgatenovelist and Ian King

Running Time:02:00:17 in 1 MP3 Audio CD

A series of six volumes of Wheels anthologies was produced by members of the Sitwell family between 1916 and 1922. The fourth volume, published in 1919, contains several notable poems by the recently deceased Wilfred Owen. The other poets represented are Francisco Quevedo, Aldous Huxley, Arnold James, Iris Tree, Sherard Vines, and Edith, Osbert and Sacheverell Sitwell.

1 - Corpse-Day by Osbert Sitwell

2 - English Gothic by Osbert Sitwell

3 - Nocturne by Osbert Sitwell

4 - The Bethrothal of Priapus by Aldous Huxley

5 - Frascati’s by Aldous Huxley

6 - Verrey’s by Aldous Huxley

7 - Topiary by Aldous Huxley

8 - Love Song by Aldous Huxley

9 - Complaint of a Poet Manque by Aldous Huxley

10 - The Reef by Aldous Huxley

11 - Serenade by Sacheverell Sitwell

12 - The Italian Air by Sacheverell Sitwell

13 - Mrs H […] or a Lady from Babel by Sacheverell Sitwell

14 - Valse Estudiantina by Sacheverell Sitwell

15 - Three poems by Arnold James

16 - Cordova by Francisco Quevedo

17 - To the Mosquito of the Little Trumpet by Francisco Quevedo

18 - Elders by Iris Tree

19 - The Complex Life by Iris Tree

20 - Remorse by Iris Tree

21 - Soul’s Avarice by Iris Tree

22 - Wanderlust by Iris Tree

23 - Changing Mirrors by Iris Tree

24 - Lamp-Posts by Iris Tree

25 - Memory by Iris Tree

26 - Disenchantment by Iris Tree

27 - The Show by Wilfred Owen

28 - Strange Meeting by Wilfred Owen

29 - A Terre by Wilfred Owen

30 - The Sentry by Wilfred Owen

31 - Disabled by Wilfred Owen

32 - The Dead Beat by Wilfred Owen

33 - The Chances by Wilfred Owen

34 - Elan Vital by Sherard Vines

35 - The Soldier’s Last Love by Sherard Vines

36 - Experience by Sherard Vines

37 - New Saints by Sherard Vines

38 - Über allen Gipfeln ist Ruh by Sherard Vines

39 - A Dark Church by Sherard Vines

40 - Materialism : or Pastor takes the Restaurant Car for Heaven by Edith Sitwell

41 - Nine Bucolic Poems by Edith Sitwell

42 - Press Notices

43 - Bibliography

by Aldous Huxley; Edith Sitwell; Osbert Sitwell; Edward Wyndham Tennant; 

Sacheverell Sitwell; Iris Tree; Helen Rootham; Arnold James; Sherard Vines.

Read by Nemo; Algy Pug; Newgatenovelist and Eva Davis

Running Time:02:30:28 in 1 MP3 Audio CD

A series of six volumes of Wheels anthologies was produced by members of the Sitwell family between 1916 and 1922. The second volume, published in 1917, contains poems by the Sitwells and also Aldous Huxley, among others.

1 - Preface: Armchair by Osbert Sitwell

2 - Fountains by Osbert Sitwell

3 - Promenades by Osbert Sitwell

4 - Prospect Road by Osbert Sitwell

5 - Rag-time by Osbert Sitwell

6 - The Gypsy Queen by Osbert Sitwell

7 - The Return of the Prodigal by Osbert Sitwell

8 - London by Osbert Sitwell

9 - The Alien by Aldous Huxley

10 - By the Fire by Aldous Huxley

11 - Private Property by Aldous Huxley

12 - Social Amenities by Aldous Huxley

13 - The Life Theoretic by Aldous Huxley

14 - Siesta Thoughts by Aldous Huxley

15 - Farewell to the Muses by Aldous Huxley

16 - Retrospect by Aldous Huxley

17 - Valedictory by Aldous Huxley

18 - Tahiti by Sacheverell Sitwell

19 - Barrel - Organs by Sacheverell Sitwell

20 - The Nightingale by Sacheverell Sitwell

21 - Soliloquy and Speech from ‘ The Mayor of Murcia ’ by Sacheverell Sitwell

22 - Trumpets by Sacheverell Sitwell

23 - A Dream by Arnold James

24 - Till the Morn Break by Arnold James

25 - In Nassau by Iris Tree

26 - Black Velvet by Iris Tree

27 - Myself in the City by Iris Tree

28 - Imposture by Iris Tree

29 - As a Nun's Face by Iris Tree

30 - Optimism by Iris Tree

31 - Question by Iris Tree

32 - Ballad by Iris Tree

33 - The Soldiers by Sherard Vines

34 - The Gospel of Chimneys by Sherard Vines

35 - The Bull by Sherard Vines

36 - Low Tide by Sherard Vines

37 - Carceri by Sherard Vines

38 - The Pack by Sherard Vines

39 - Carry On by Sherard Vines

40 - From the Balcony by Edith Sitwell

41 - A Histrion by Edith Sitwell

42 - Two Orchard Poems by Edith Sitwell

43 - A Scene from Saul - an unfinished play by Edith Sitwell

44 - Messalina at Margate by Edith Sitwell

5 - The County Calls by Edith Sitwell

46 - The Mad Soldier by E.W. Tennant

47 - Kultur by Helen Rootham

48 - Aetet 19 by Helen Rootham

49 - Symphony by Helen Rootham

50 - Cul-de-sac by Helen Rootham

51 - The Nun by Helen Rootham

52 - Song by Helen Rootham

53 - Press notices

54 - Bibliography

by Aldous Huxley; Edith Sitwell; Paul Selver; Osbert Sitwell; Sacheverell Sitwell; Sherard Vines; Brian Howard

Read by Nemo; Algy Pug; Newgatenovelist and Eva Davis

Running Time:01:00:08 in 1 MP3 Audio CD

The sixth and final cycle of Wheels was published in 1921, and is much shorter than the preceding volumes. Apart from the three Sitwells, the poets represented are Aldous Huxley, Alan Porter, Sherard Vines, H.R.Barbour, Charles Orange (Brian Howard), Paul Selver and Augustine Rivers. 

1 - Two Mexican Pieces by Osbert Sitwell 

2 - Nero in the Circus by Aldous Huxley 

3 - Picture by Goya by Aldous Huxley 

4 - Sonnet by Alan Porter 

5 - Design for a Printed Calico by Sherard Vines

6 - Quadrant by Sherard Vines

7 - Subjective Odyssey by H.R. Barbor 

8 - Aberrantry by H.R .Barbor 

9 - Parade Virtues for a Dying Gladiator by Sacheverell Sitwell

10 - An Imitation by Sacheverell Sitwell - Sacheverell Sitwell

11 - Another Imitation by Sacheverell Sitwell

12 - Barouches Noires by Charles Orange

13 - Two Bucolic Poems by Edith Sitwell

14 - Fantasia for Mouth Organ by Edith Sitwell 

15 - Early Spring by Edith Sitwell 

16 - Perpetuum Mobile by Paul Selver 

17 - The Death of Mercury by Augustine Rivers