Just Finished Reading: Ape and Essence by Aldous Huxley (FP: 1948) [153pp]
This is a bit of an odd one, so the review will be different too. I picked this up either last year or the year before in my favourite Indie bookshop. I picked it up for several reasons: it was a Huxley book I was unfamiliar with after only reading ‘Brave New World’ by him, it was a Classic and I’m trying to read more classics, it was thin and finally it looked like an interesting ‘take’ on the post-apocalypse sub-genre.
The short novel started in a rather unexpected way with two script writers in California chatting about the state of the world and their places in it. During the conversation a truck drives past carrying rejected scripts on the way to have them pulped or incinerated. As luck with have it, one of the rejected scripts falls off the truck and lands, relatively intact, at their feet. With little else to do that day they decide to read it. Entranced by the story they track down the author only to discover that he had recently died. The rest of the novel is the recovered script...
The year is 2108, 100 years after a devastating global nuclear war. Few places have survived unscathed, but one of them is New Zealand. With the effects of the war now diminishing, a team of scientists is re-contacting ‘lost’ countries and has landed on the Californian coast. Attacked by savages one of them – Dr Alfred Poole, a botanist and the focus of the narrative – is captured and taken to those in authority. He discovers that the new ‘civilisation’ in California is based on the worship of Satan as it could only have been Him who led the world to self-destruction and the misery they now must live with. Dr Poole spends the rest of the story discovering exactly how the new society functions (badly!) and has some interesting chats with the high priest/archbishop about the philosophical underpinnings of their way of life and religion.
As you can probably imagine this was all rather surreal. The most obvious theme throughout – especially considering the world had only entered the Atomic Age 3 years previously – was fear of the bomb. The other two themes throughout, which presumably originated in the author himself, were sexuality and sexual repression and, of course, mother issues. Strange doesn’t really cover it. I can’t say hand on heart that I enjoyed this short work, but I did find parts of it interesting. The ‘End of the World’ was, according to the Satanic archbishop, caused by a mixture of Nationalism, Rationalism and Consumerism. I must admit that I did find myself nodding with agreement during parts of his monologue. Overall, I would probably have DNF’d this if it had been much longer. It was a strange read and, no doubt, much of its time. It did give an interesting insight into how British intellectuals handled (badly) the existence of the new Armageddon hanging over us Damocles' sword like, but apart from that? Only recommended for Huxley completists I think!
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9 comments:
Sounds fascinating! Almost reminds me of A Canticle for Lebowitz in the GENERAL theme.
Haven't read 'Canticle' but I think I *tried* it decades ago. I've heard mixture reactions to it.
This would be a SUPER quick read for you. Not sure what you'd think of it though!!
Sounds quite eclectic and bizarre... but I was so intrigued by Brave New World, I do want to read more Huxley. I'd probably give it a try anyway. Have you read Island? I have that and "Ends and Means" (essays) on my to-read list.
Oh, it's VERY bizarre in places. I'm really not sure what you'll make of it if you give it a go, but I'd be intrigued by what you think of it. I imagine most of the religious metaphor/symbolism passed me by. You might get more out of it than I did in that respect.
I haven't been put off Huxley and I do have 'Island' in one of my Classics stacks, so it should be read at some point. Not sure when though. My next classic is probably going to be by Hemmingway.
Considering how long ago this was written, it seems extremely contemporary, we still have the same fears and that's what dystopian literature usually is about.
Same as you, I have only read Brave New World by Huxley but I'll have to add this to my wishlist.
Thanks.
I remember a conversation we had in college with my Law lecturer. I think she was a member of CND - the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament - and was chatting to us about nuclear weapons. Whilst I think she was old enough to remember a world without Nukes the rest of us had been born into the Cold War and had known nothing else. The knowledge that we could all be dead in a matter of minutes if someone was stupid enough to push the button in Moscow was something that we practically took for granted. I remember saying 'well, yes, it's bad but nothing to lose a nights sleep over'. Of course we were teenagers known for being blasé and off-hand about such things - plus we probably couldn't conceive of *everything* coming to an end like that.
I've no idea what you'll think of this if you do read it, but I'm intrigued to find out.
I have put it on my next order list, so I will get to it one day.
And I believe none of us really understands the danger entirely, or we'd all go mad.
Very true. It's hard enough to conceive of your own death without trying to imagine the death of humanity. If you think about nukes for too long or too deeply you'd be lucky to only get depressed. What a world we have made for ourselves.....
I know. There have always been people who didn't care about others and only think of themselves (though that doesn't help them now if they destroy the world) but there seem to be more of them now.
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