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Aldous Huxley - somaweb.org - discussion forum
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 time to live |
Thoughts on "The Doors of Perception" |
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Posts: 1 (12/19/06 10:40:44) |
I have just began reading Huxley's "The Doors of Perception"--his in-depth study and experiences with mescalline. I was wondering what people's thoughts were on the work and how it affected you. I heard that it was a dramtic literary piece however it is rare and it is difficult to find those who have read it. Thanks...appreciate your input
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Suetonious |
Huxley | ||
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Posts: 23 (02/15/07 13:55:19) Member |
Crummy book. His literary skills seemed to decline from about the nineteen forties--early work, the satires, essays, novels, and short stories were brilliant, from another planet, the intellectual equivilent of Hendrix. As he aged, his ideas, his humanism, his spirituality gave him a crank quality. Too much Arnold, too little TE Huxley. As mystic, he was maybe first rate, maybe second rate. As novelist and thinker, and even comic satirist, he was in a class by himself.
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dandelionwine |
doors of perception | ||
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Posts: 16 (03/05/07 23:41:42) Junior Member |
The psychedelic experience was new to both Huxley and western consciousness, and his poignant attempt to capture it in words had a profound effect on the blossoming generation. Decades later, it still had an effect on my friends and I, as we began chemical explorations of our internal and external realities.
I almost agree, Suetonious, that his skills declined around the 40s. His later work is much harder for me to get into, with one major exception: Island. Because of my profound appreciation for Island, I tend to excuse his work in the 40s and 50s as a sort of transition; after his merciless dissection of everything, he began to try on different attitudes and ideas, and eventually settled on a single perspective. I used to like the Smashing Pumpkins (in my angst-filled early teens) and when Billy Corgan started his religious thing, I was like wtf, you were so much better before. But, even though I still don't like his new stuff, I'm glad he feels that his is evolving, and that he is not afraid of change. |
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