Aldous Huxley’s Short Fiction

Aldous Huxley’s Short Fiction analyzes Huxley’s short stories within a modernist context, highlighting that he shared more characteristics with distinguished modernists than is usually believed. The book also explores other features of Huxley’s short stories, focusing on themes such as consumerism, mainstream education, shallow intellectualism, women’s emancipation, toxic masculinity, and sensational journalism, themes that correspond with both Huxley’s time and our world, and position him among the most prophetic authors of the twentieth century. This study demonstrates that Huxley’s short fiction can provide answers to questions that remain confusing or partially explained in the research on Huxley’s work. It illustrates the constants and changes in Huxley’s opinions on organized religion, mysticism, and the relation between sexuality and spirituality, while also clarifying Huxley’s political opinion, which is often misunderstood due to his advocacy of pacifism. Finally, the in-depth interpretations of Huxley’s short stories reveal the dynamics of his literary style, especially his complex humor and irony, areas he developed more than any other modernist author of short fiction.

Andrija Matic is an adjunct assistant professor at Baruch College, The City University of New York, USA. He is the author of five novels, a collection of short stories, and a study on T. S. Eliot’s complete works. He has also published many articles on Anglo-American literature, especially on modernist poetry and short fiction. Andrija Matic has taught at universities in Serbia, Kuwait, Thailand, Turkey, and the USA. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.