ALDOUS HUXLEY
"It was little wonder that Huxley's novels came to be seen as works of modern
cynicism. His characters appeared powerless to act, their relationships incapable of
taking shape, their ideas circular and pointing to ev 121j96b entual futility. These are novels of
ideas that set no store by the salvation of ideas.
The structure of his novels provides the reader with the possibility of a similar
interpretation since it is characterised by a double quality: the existence of the ideal of
unity and the practical possibility to achieve that ideal. Of unity and the practical
possibility to achieve that ideal. The novel point Counter Point offers the reader an
example of a perfectly logical chaos since paradoxically, innumerable fragments, which
tend towards union, represent wholeness and completeness. The contrapuntal technique
consists of the juxtaposition of the parts, the subdivisions of the chapters, the sentences
and of the points of view of the characters.
It is obvious that Huxley worked a lot to make this noel its theme at the level of
the structure and of the characters, and at the same time to mirror its process of creation.
Point Counter Point it also built on a conflict, this time between members of the opposite
political parties: a fascist - Everard Webley, a character constructed on the base of the
British fascist leader of that period - and a communist - the assistant of the scientist Lord
Edward Tantamount. The conflictual state degenerates in violence and the fascist is
murdered. Yet, evil is not appears as "pure and gratuitous" in the death of Philip Quarles'
child. On the other hand, violence and pessimism occur in sexual relationships based on
physical disgust: the scene in which Burlap takes a bath with his secretary creating a
feeling of sickness and disgust, the young Bidlake has a cruel relation with Lucy
Tantamount whose "coldblooded sensuality sends a shiver down the spine".
While these characters are a kind of monsters of the body, Lord Tantamount is a monster
of spirit. In spite of his child - like innocence, the impulses of the body have been
stifling. This is suggested during the concert when he is the only one that realises that the
beauty of music consists of the union between material and spiritual.
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