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A review by briandice
Crome Yellow by Aldous Huxley
4.0
An author's first novel is often semi-autobiographical, and Huxley's "Crome Yellow" is no exception. Drawing from his experiences at Garsington Manor and his time with the Bloomsbury set, Huxley satirizes and caricatures the British world fresh from The Great War and heady with a world of possibilities, including another potential global conflagration that could destroy humanity.
Huxley's range of male characters read like spokes on a wheel of his own personality. Early in the novel Huxley's main protagonist, Denis, laments his fear of passing through the world without making his mark - that his poetry and prose would be the stuff of weak tea and remain unread by the masses (a thinly-veiled Huxleyism, if there ever was one). Huxley's counter-point to his youthful protagonist is Mr. Scogan, a prophetic middle-aged man who guesses with alarming accuracy the type of novel that Denis is trying to write (and which is basically the book Huxley does not want "Crome Yellow" to become), causing Denis to swear-off the book entirely. Scogan also hints about the possibility of a future of birthing humans in test-tubes - an early foreshadowing to "Brave New World" which would be published 12 years after CY.
There are several well written scenes, including a touching oral history of a dwarf forefather given by one of CY's many characters - and the County Fair scene with Scogan as a fortune teller is a favorite. Recommended for Huxley and British lit fans.
Huxley's range of male characters read like spokes on a wheel of his own personality. Early in the novel Huxley's main protagonist, Denis, laments his fear of passing through the world without making his mark - that his poetry and prose would be the stuff of weak tea and remain unread by the masses (a thinly-veiled Huxleyism, if there ever was one). Huxley's counter-point to his youthful protagonist is Mr. Scogan, a prophetic middle-aged man who guesses with alarming accuracy the type of novel that Denis is trying to write (and which is basically the book Huxley does not want "Crome Yellow" to become), causing Denis to swear-off the book entirely. Scogan also hints about the possibility of a future of birthing humans in test-tubes - an early foreshadowing to "Brave New World" which would be published 12 years after CY.
There are several well written scenes, including a touching oral history of a dwarf forefather given by one of CY's many characters - and the County Fair scene with Scogan as a fortune teller is a favorite. Recommended for Huxley and British lit fans.