Not all the readers are flexible enough to read anything that comes their way, digest it and move ahead. There are readers who are comfortable within a zone and cannot venture into the genres that they are not comfortable reading. For example, I know many of my friends who are very deeply involved in spending their leisure hours by reading modern literature produced by contemporary Indian novelists involving sex, violence, intrigue and excitement. However, if I ask them about classical Indian novelists such as Anand, Rao, Desai or others, they are surprised – when did such a novel publish? At the same time, I also know many readers who are into reading. They read anything and just read it and just read. They don’t care too much about what they are reading – throw any page at them and they can extract reading pleasure out of it. Put the page back on the desk. Nevertheless, what I am offering today is a list of books Aldous Huxley that you must read only if you are really into reading philosophical novels, intellectual non-fiction and unusual content that contemporary readers might find over the top.
Aldous Huxley is one of my favourite authors when it comes to reading something that can compel me to think and even rethink my instances. Not only his non-fiction writings, but his novels are also ‘messed up’ with ideas and content that can severely blow one’s mind. The unending hegemony of intellectual riot that his novel Island (published in 1962) creates is not only amazing but also exciting to read.
“In another modality this Allegro was the luminous bliss; it was the knowledgeless understanding of everything apprehended through a particular piece of knowledge; it was undifferentiated awareness broken up into notes and phrases and yet still all-comprehendingly itself. And of course all this belonged to nobody.”
Likewise, if you want to torture your convincing thoughts with some hard-hitting wisdom by the acclaimed novelist, an expert in creating dystopia out of words only, you can read Ape and Essence, published in 1948. The novel attacks, satirically, the confusion and chaos that emerged after the second world war which was a continuation of the dilemma that dawned after the first World War.
Who can forget Brave New World, a novel that shook the foundations of fear when the readers read it for the first time in 1932? If you are planning to read Huxley, this might be the first name that might have come to your thoughts. It is natural because Huxley’s novel, Brave New World, is one of the best-known dystopian novels that highlight a future, which was nowhere in the imagination of the people of those days. However, it is not only surprising but frightening as well as we see some of the assumptions made by him coming true today!
If you are planning to test your skills in comprehending some of the unusual lines from the non-fiction writings of Huxley, I would suggest you should begin with The Perennial Philosophy, a title by Aldous Huxley published in 1945. The book by Huxley is a collection of many of his essays in which he compares different religions, in terms of the philosophy they propagate, around the world. The non-fiction book will certainly give you many moments of intellectual challenges and heightened activities by your mind. Are you up for the challenge?
Well, there are about 50 books published by the author of concern and we cannot put all of those out there. However, to set things in the best possible order, I will advise you beginnings low when you plan to read Huxley. He is one of the most versatile minds ever indulged in literary writings and he should be respected, appropriately.
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All the best!
