Those Barren Leaves

by Aldous Huxley

Overview

"Money brings no satisfaction if one has to work for it; for if one works for it one has no time to spend it."

-Aldous Huxley, Those Barren Leaves (1925)

Those Barren Leaves (1925) is a satirical novel by Aldous Huxley, the title of which comes from William Wordworth's poem The Tables Turned (1798): "Enough of Science and of Art; Close up those barren leaves; Come forth, and bring with you a heart; That watches and receives." The plot centers on protagonist Mrs. Aldwinkle, who invites guests to a Renaissance-like soiree, only to have her desire for the perfect event dashed. Reminiscent of Huxley's Crome Yellow (1921, also available from Cosimo Classics), the author's skewering of the superficial and pretentious is witty and engaging no matter the time period.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781646795826
Publisher:	Cosimo Classics
Publication date:	01/01/1925
Pages:	388
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

ALDOUS HUXLEY (1894-1963) was an English-born author and intellectual known for his satires, in particular, his prophetic Brave New World (1932). His influential writing includes more than fifty novels, as well as poetry, nonfiction, and screenplays. He moved to Hollywood in 1937 to focus on screenwriting and lived there until his death.

Editorial Reviews

The many-toned wit of the book, the beauty and shrewdness of its descriptions, the learning, the thought, the richness of character, the intellectual and artistic honesty of it . . . show that Mr. Huxley . .
. will be a great novelist.

Times Literary Supplement

It is brilliant and daring . . . humorous, witty, clever, cultured.

Nation and Athenaeum

Huxley has an utterly ruthless habit of building up an elaborate and sometimes almost romantic structure and then blowing it down with something too ironic to be called satire and too scornful to be called irony.

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Brilliantly done; Those Barren Leaves has humour, daring, some excellent fooling, remarkable erudition and plenty of Huxley's salacious irony.”

The Guardian