Antic Hay (1923)

This is one of Huxley’s lesser known works and now I can see why. For a 250 page book it dragged along despite a promising start about a teacher quitting his job to design pneumatic pants. A lot of the satire was lost on me, but probably would have been entertaining for someone with knowledge of the English upper class in the 1920s. There were witty parts and several passages that I enjoyed, but overall I wouldn’t recommend it. ( )

I'm finding out that just reading Brave New World in high school doesn't really give you any sense of what sort of an author Aldous Huxley was.

Antic Hay is a novel about, essentially, the Lost Generation and their feelings of disaffection and uncertainty in the wake of World War I. A satire, it is at times just poking a bit of fun, at times jabbing viciously. The themes are pretty timeless: disillusionment, the experience of feeling adrift in the world, wondering if what you've wanted for yourself is really worth wanting. The characters are a group of acquaintances who cope with their ennui in a variety of ways - having affairs, becoming unhealthily obsessed with a woman in their social circle, quitting a job, committing to an artistic life, taking pretending to be someone else to new levels.

The interesting things to me about this book were twofold: 1, how easily Huxley switches between humor and despair in the narrative; and 2, how he expressed truths in ways that would be just as valid in today's world with only a few key words changed. For an example, check out the quote at the end of the review. I found the book easy to read and digest, and an interesting look at the time period as well as human nature in general.

Recommended for: people who know that the more things change the more they stay the same, people who need to be reminded that they are not, by any stretch of the imagination, the first to feel unmoored.

Quote: "[W]ould a man with unlimited leisure be free, Mr. Gumbril? I say he would not. Not unless he 'appened to be a man like you or me, Mr. Gumbril, a man of sense, a man of independent judgment. An ordinary man would not be free. Because he wouldn't know how to occupy his leisure except in some way that would be forced on him by other people. People don't know 'how to entertain themselves now; they leave it to other people to do it for them. They swallow what's given them. They 'ave to swallow it, whether they like it or not. Cinemas, newspapers, magazines, gramophones, football matches, wireless, telephones -- take them or leave them, if you want to amuse yourself. The ordinary man can't leave them. He takes; and what's that but slavery?" ( )

Written and set in the early 1920s, Antic Hay follows a group of upper class friends around London. There isn't much in the way of action; they spend most of the time discussing art, politics and philosophy and showing off. They are all lost and lonely in a changing world where all the old certainties have gone, and all the men are or have been in love with Myra Viveash, the most interesting and probably the most damaged character in the book. ( )

Huxley’s most theatrical novel of sorts, this early 1920’s satire toys with the relatively new concept of capitalistic advertizing to the masses, the perils of progress, and the differences between art and intellectual curiosity. The characters are far from his finest display, but worth a quick read for fans of the conversation novel. ( )

Light, amusing and a view of a changing british society. ( )