Talk:Aldous Huxley

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"On November the 22nd of 1963, unaware of the assasination of John F. Kennedy earlier that day and under the influence of an unspecified entheogenic substance." Can someone supply a verb for this non-sentence?


Contents

[edit] Date of Birth & Death

It stated he was born in 2007 and died in 1963. Could we please get this right?--LAgurl 16:36, 21 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Huxley and Humanism

I reworded the sentence about Huxley being a humanist, it had the sentence that Huxley had "humanistic concerns" early in life. Huxley never dropped his adherence to humanism as his philosophical foundation, to say that he moved past it is POV and not what is factually true. If its reverted again, I will put a NPOV tag.ForrestLane42 18:44, 28 December 2006 (UTC)ForrestLane42

While investigating on the website I came across this website which reads nearly word for word of the present page! http://www.coolove.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=13 check the page out! ForrestLane42 23:32, 28 December 2006 (UTC)ForrestLane42

Nothing strange since source for that article is Wikipedia. Why did you put Original research tag on the whole article? -- Vision Thing -- 14:32, 7 January 2007 (UTC)


Wow Vision Thing, you got me, I thought it was the other way around in sourcing...lol...I didn't see that on the bottom of webpage, ill reverse it all. ForrestLane42 17:26, 7 January 2007 (UTC)ForrestLane42

Ok, I'm glad I helped. -- Vision Thing -- 17:25, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Why no mention of founding Happy Valley School?

Aldous Huxley helped to found Happy Valley School, one of the most interesting private schools in Ojai, CA.

signed VTARes1 1-16-06—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 69.228.208.37 talk 09:27, 16 January 2007 (UTC).

[edit] Captain Beefheart

Not sure if this is an 'Official Source' but on the Old Gray Whistle Test DVD it mentions that Captain Beefheart worked as a door to door travelling salesman and tried to sell Huxley a hoover. Huxley was supposed to have said "Sir, this sucks."

Would this be consdiered suitable for a submission if I can get the exact quote? 194.105.181.145 13:51, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Quotations

Huxley's quote on psychological totalitarianism "... because they will be distracted from any desire to rebel by propaganda, brainwashing, or brainwashing enhanced by pharmacological methods." is from when he lectured to The California Medical School in San Francisco in 1961, referenced here, and here, and here. All three mention this in the 'Later Years' section- I'm very sorry, all three are the same one but I don't know which one the other two are from, so I've provided all three links. Anyway! A couple quotes there have no reference whatsoever, so I figured this might help, but I'm not quite sure where to put it in. -Riot Lion- 01:48, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Literary Themes

I have added in a section on Huxley's Literary Themes as I felt there was a lot of good information on his life but not so much on this aspect of the author's work. Ivankinsman 12:31, 5 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Zaehner

For a hostile view on his religious and mystical ideas see R.C. Zaehner.

Removed this from the opening paragraph; while I feel it's a valid inclusion it shouldn't be placed in the opening paragraph, as Zaehner's views of Huxley's philosophy hardly defined Huxley in any way. Naphra 14:05, 8 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Trivia clean up

I'm removing some of the trivia which is already included in the main text. Also, removing:

Huxley has become the name of a beloved mini-schnauzer in Ottawa Ontario. Famous for his mischeivious pranks and devilish good looks.

Seems like, even if not vandalism, is hardly important enough to include here. Quine 13:57, 9 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Banned for being ugly

"After World War II Huxley applied for United States citizenship, but was denied because he was ugly. Nevertheless he remained in the United States and in 1959 he turned down an offer of a Knight Bachelor by the Macmillan government."

Is this for real? I'm quite sure it isn't, and if it is, it needs to be better explained. They didn't have fashion police at Ellis Island.--Bill Slocum 20:11, 9 May 2007 (UTC)

I don't know why his citizenship was denied, but surely not because of that, so I removed that bit. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 201.231.4.50 (talk • contribs) 23:21, May 9, 2007 (UTC)
This was one of a spate of vandal edits on May 9. Fixed now. --Blainster 20:01, 10 May 2007 (UTC)

- - -

The answer can be read in David King Dunaway (1989), "Huxley in Hollywood", pages 305-308.

Quotes: "[a]fter fourteen years resident aliens, they applied for American citizenship. [...] they encountered one last form. On it was the question: "Are you prepared to serve in the U.S. armed foces?" When Aldous Huxley answered "No", the near blind author of a half-dozen works on pacifism was summoned into a courtroom [...] A special hearing would then be necessary for naturalization, the judge informed them. When they left the building, Aldous's face was white. "They don't want us here!" he said in an uncharacteristic outburst. [Footnote 19: Betty Wendell, essay in the possession of Sybille Bedford.] [...] By February 1954, they had heard nothing. "If papers come through, well and good; if they don't, well and good also," he wrote Matthew. "Still, I wish we hadn't let ourselves in for this bother and confusion." [Footnote 22] A few days later they withdrew their application, renewed their British passport, and quietly resumed resident alien status." End of quotes.

Aldous loved his Encyclopaedia Britannica, but IMHO that's no reason for treating him so poorly on Wikipedia.

Ries Baeten, Brusssels, Belgium (where many letters of Huxley and Maria are kept in the library)

[edit] Source number one

Anyone notice that the first source in References is dated "(FUCK YOU!)"? TheConstrukt 07:51, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for pointing out the problem. You can fix this sort of thing by just clicking on the "edit this page" tab at the top of the article. --Blainster 15:33, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Huxleygame

There's been some drama about the external linking to Huxleygame. Could the people who keep linking to it please explain how the game is relevant to Aldous Huxley. All I've heard is, "This game is based on Aldous Huxley", which I find hard to believe. Perhaps it is based on one of his books? Thanks!--Heyitspeter 12:05, 12 July 2007 (UTC)

The wikipedia article for Huxley (video game) and this website - http://videogames.yahoo.com/pc/huxley/preview-451216 - both disconfirm that the Huxley videogame is based on the novel, A Brave New World.
Regardless of this, the Huxley video game has no worthwhile relation to Aldous Huxley the man, and I've removed the remaining link.--Heyitspeter 03:58, 13 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Matthew Huxley

Unless there are objections I'm going to trim down the Matthew Huxley section. Two paragraphs on what he did after his father died seems to be overkill.

Scott.wheeler 01:16, 11 October 2007 (UTC)

Maybe it should be moved to a new article on Matthew? I'm not sure if he is notable enough... Urlass 19:14, 11 October 2007 (UTC)
My feeling from a quick search is that an article on him isn't warrented. Really I think it should be trimmed down to one sentance. More than that isn't really relevant in the article, fine fellow though he may have been. Scott.wheeler 21:44, 11 October 2007 (UTC)
I've restored the info - he was prominent enough to warrant a substantial obit in Washington Post. It seems that two paragraphs is warranted, given that he is Huxley's only child and all descendants of Huxley are through him. I just visited the article looking for information about this very topic. Sylvain1972 17:43, 14 November 2007 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Sylvain1972 (talk • contribs)

[edit] The List Of Quotes

There used to be an admittedly, rather long list of quotes in this article. Was it really necessary to get rid of the ENTIRE thing? There were some really good ones in there and I felt they really helped demonstrate his view points and unique wit on many topics. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.235.201.181 (talk) 03:46, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Vedanta classification would be appropriate, "Hinduism" isn't

Like many intellectuals of the late 19th and the 20th centuries who had a spiritual sensitivity or interest, Huxley was drawn to a study of the philosophies and "higher psychologies" of Buddhism and Vedanta. Though he may have been a vegetarian for a while, and was drawn to and studied with the Indian traditionalist Swami Prabhavananda, Huxley was not a convert to Hinduism. If anything, he was a Vedantist. Vedanta is a philosophical expression similar to the philosophical idealism or mysticism expressed by various well-known Western writers, going back centuries.

Hinduism encompasses the convictions, folk beliefs, and devotional religion of vast masses of people in India, many of whom have little or no knowledge of Vedanta. While popular religions of the world were a subject that Huxley read about and thought about, this can be said of very many curious and intellectually active Westerners who certainly never convert to Hinduism. Joel Russ (talk) 17:05, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] huxleys final LSD

The article states 100 micrograms of LSD was consumed by Huxley as he was dying. Acutualy the dose was 10,000 micrograms! 100 micrograms of pure LSD wouldn't get an ant high. But the known dose of LSD for a human for the full effects of the drug to take affect is about 700 mics. 10,000 mics would be a near death experience. Also I'm sure the man had a tolerence for the drug. It would be nice to see this changed in the article to better represent the historicle facts.

Entjones —Preceding unsigned comment added by Entjones (talk • contribs) 19:21, 8 June 2008 (UTC)