Though somewhat overshadowed by Brave New World and The Doors of Perception, Huxley’s modernist novel Eyeless in Gaza (1936) is often regarded as his finest work. The writer and historian Simon Heffer dubbed it, unequivocally, ‘his only great novel.’
The plot centres on Anthony Beavis, a dilettante social theorist, a man inclined to recoil from life. The pleasures of the physical world disgust him and the universe of ideas is but a poor refuge. Having long lost the art of intimacy, he betrays friendships and toys with the affections of women. But as Beavis approaches middle age, his world of perfect detachment begins to lose its appeal. Finally realising that his withdrawal from life has been motivated not by intellectual honesty but by moral cowardice, Beavis, devastated and at crisis point, meets the remarkable and redoubtable Dr Miller.
The novel’s style and setting create a unique atmosphere. Placed mainly in the inter-war years of the 20th century, the story is told in short, dated sections without following strict chronology: we encounter characters and events through fractured time, forward and backward, resulting in an unusual perspective. Eyeless in Gaza – a quotation from Milton’s Samson Agonistes – will come as an exciting, enriching surprise to many who know only the more popular Huxley. Especially in this persuasive recording by Jamie Parker.
