Eyeless in Gaza (novel)

The novel focuses on the life of socialite Anthony Beavis, but it does so by employing a non-chronological structure. It juxtaposes four periods of Beavis' life, from the time that he is a young boy in the 1890s up until 1936. The novel describes Beavis as he goes through school, college and various romantic affairs, while probing the meaningless lives of the upper-class during the same period. The novel depicts Beavis' own gradual disillusionment with high society, brought to a head by the suicide of his friend. At this point, he begins to search for some source of meaning in his life, which seems to be provided when he discovers pacifism and then mysticism.[1]

The English journalist Simon Heffer has called the novel Huxley’s best book and single ‘great novel’. For Heffer, the book both harkens back to Huxley’s early satires and links to the more serious and philosophical concerns of his later novels. Formally, he says that the novel uses a modernist, stream of consciousness approach, but bases these in fact, unlike Woolf, Proust and Joyce who use unreliable memories. The tension between war and pacifism is explored in the novel in a particularly productive way. Heffer concludes by writing that Huxley is a “sophisticated, original English man of letters” who deserves a reevaluation and that this novel is a good place to start.[2] Heffer also includes Eyeless in Gaza in Strictly English, his guide to clear English, as containing examples of Huxley’s mastery of parentheses (both brackets and dashes) and the single dash.[3] Blogger Josh Ronsen has created a table for those who want to read the novel in chronological order.[4]

It was adapted by Robin Chapman as a BBC mini-series in five episodes, screened in 1971.[5]

• Eyeless in Gaza at Faded Page (Canada)