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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.912
EAN num: 9781564781314
ISBN number: 1564781313
Label: Dalkey Archive Press
Manufacturer: Dalkey Archive Press
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 432
Printing Date: 1996-10
Publishing house: Dalkey Archive Press
Sale Popularity Level: 253891
Studio: Dalkey Archive Press
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Product Description:
Aldous Huxley's lifelong concern with the dichotomy between passion and reason finds its fullest expression both thematically and formally in his masterpiece Point Counter Point. By presenting a vision of life in which diverse aspects of experience are observed simultaneously, Huxley characterizes the symptoms of 'the disease of modern man' in the manner of a composerthemes and characters repeated, altered slightly, and played off one another in a tone that is at once critical and sympathetic.
First published in 1928, Huxley's satiric view of intellectual life in the '20s is populated with characters based on such celebrities of the time as D. H. Lawrence, Katherine Mansfield, Sir Oswald Mosley, Nancy Cunard, and John Middleton Murray, as well as Huxley himself. A major work of the 20th century and a monument of literary modernism, this edition includes an introduction by acclaimed novelist Nicholas Mosley (author of Hopeful Monsters and the son of Sir Oswald Mosley).
Along with Brave New World (written a few years later), Point Counter Point is Huxley's most concentrated attack on the scientific attitude and its effect on modern culture.
Amazon.com Review:
When it was published in 1928, Point Counter Point no doubt shocked its readers with frank depictions of infidelity, sexuality, and the highbrow high jinks of Aldous Huxley's arty characters. What's truly remarkable, however, is how his novel continues to shock today. True, we may hardly lift an eyebrow at poor Marjorie Carling leaving her husband to live in sin with--and get pregnant by--her lover Walter Bidlake. And the sexual exploits of Lady Edward Tantamount or her daughter, Lucy, seem quite in keeping with the behavior expected of such exalted persons by readers inured to the exploits of the British Royals. If the varieties of sexual experience on display in Huxley's novel seem tame by current standards, his clear-eyed dissection of the motives behind them are thrillingly fresh--and his commentaries on everything from politics to ecology sometimes chillingly prescient. Take for example, the wisdom of amateur biologist Lord Edward Tantamount on the subject of non-renewable resources: 'No doubt,' he said, 'you think you can make good the loss with phosphate rocks. But what'll you do when the deposits are exhausted?' He poked Everard in the shirt front. 'What then? Only two hundred years and they'll be finished. You think we're being progressive because we're living on our capital Phosphates, coal, petroleum, nitre--squander them all. That's your policy. And meanwhile you go round trying to make our flesh creep with talk about revolutions.'
When his interlocutor, the fascist politician Everard Webley, demands to know whether Lord Edward wants a revolution, Tantamount very first asks whether such an event would reduce the population and check production and then, when assured it would, he responds, ''Then certainly I want a revolution.' The Old Man thought in terms of geology and was not afraid of logical conclusions.'
Huxley fills his novel with a multitude of characters, from the obscenely wealthy Tantamounts to the priapic painter John Bidlake, his children Walter and Elinor, and their respective mates, Marjorie Carling and Philip Quarles. There is also the venomous Maurice Spandrell, the revolutionary Illidge, the unctuous Burlap, and the happily married (a rarity in this novel) Mark and Mary Rampion, who are the book's moral center--theirs is the one relationship that combines reason and passion in proper measure. They are purportedly in part based on well-known figures of the time such as D.H. Lawrence and Katherine Mansfield. Love, loss, infidelity, and murder are the subjects under discusion as Huxley juxtaposes one point of view against its opposite, and mixes in a healthy dollop of science, politics, religion, and art, as well. Point Counter Point is an intelligent novel about the intellectual world, and one that bears up gracefully under the test of time. --Alix Wilber
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Rated by buyers 
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Aldous Huxley's 1928 novel opens with a grand London party given by Lady Edward Tantamount. Music plays. Dozens of characters cross the stage, meet briefly, argue, and part. Some go on to a restaurant that stays open past midnight; there, they meet still more characters and argue some more; several of them continue to yet another party in the early hours of the morning. We are now 100 pages into the book, a quarter of the way through. The numerous characters will continue to bump into each other over the subsequent days and months, but the essential texture of the opening will not change.
If you Google the title, the question comes back "Did you mean Point Counterpoint?" Well, no. Counterpoint is a musical term implying line and movement: two or more voices, intertwining with one another, echoing, developing, but never standing still. Huxley certainly understands that music implies movement -- his descriptions of actual music are superb -- but his method as a novelist is essentially static: to set characters off against one another, each of whom represents a different point of view. The book is thus a series of debates, some funny, some serious, all clever. But the characters ricochet off one another like balls on a pool table; this is truly a matter of point clashing with point; there is no line, little movement, and almost no plot.
Oddly enough, Huxley has one of his characters, a writer, criticize his own method: "Novel of ideas. The character of each personage must be implied, as far as possible, in the ideas of which he is the mouthpiece. In so far as theories are rationalizations of sentiments, instincts, dispositions of soul, this is feasible. The chief defect of the novel of ideas is that you must write about people who have ideas to express -- which excludes all but about .01 per cent of the human race." And again: "The great defect of the novel of ideas is that it's a made-up affair. Necessarily; for people who can reel off neatly formulated notions aren't quite real; they're slightly monstrous. Living with monsters becomes rather tiresome in the long run." He has it right; this book IS a made-up affair, it IS tiresome, and its .01 percent of the human race consists of a handful of English aristocrats and intellectuals -- Huxley as a kind of egghead Evelyn Waugh.
Several times, I almost tossed the book away, yet kept on reading -- why? The very first time was when Huxley introduces Mark Rampion, a painter and would-be novelist closely based on his friend D. H. Lawrence. Here is a character who does not come from the upper classes, whose thoughts are three-dimensional and fully worked out, and whose unconventional yet bracing morality serves as a touchstone for the other characters in the book. The chapter describing his courtship is one of the few passages where the novel of ideas becomes one of feeling, and it was riveting. Although nothing quite like that chapter comes again, I kept on because I was often amused, sometimes challenged (Huxley is an erudite author who almost demands footnotes), and increasingly aware that I was reading something that was as close to source material on the period as I was likely to find. For Huxley does not confine himself to the social and amorous goings-on typical of an early Waugh book such as A HANDFUL OF DUST. He also addresses politics (both fascism and communism are represented), religion and its substitutes, philosophy, the arts, and science. Even sex gets analyzed with an almost scientific detachment: there is a long disquisition by one of the more despicable characters on the techniques of seduction, perversion, and spiritual degradation; another embarks on what must be the very first examination in literature of the phrase "sleeping around". As a reference work, this is fascinating; I just wish it were a better novel. Interesting though the numerous points are, I could have done with some genuine counterpoint.
Rated by buyers -
This book is fascinating, and Huxley's genius is evident on every page. However, his effort to create a giant contrapuntal mosaic of different voices fails in that it has almost no driving motion to propel it forward. In music, that motion is created by the beat. In writing, it is created by the story.
While this book can be appreciated for its deep insight into human nature and exquisitely drawn characters, it remains more of a static work such as that of a photo or painting, and requires the reader to move through it, rather than moving the reader along. In a shorter book, this might work. In a work of this size, it leaves the vast majority of readers unsatisfied or abandoning the book. There is a reason why this book has so few reviews. It is not the fault of some readers that that Point Counter Point is not as popular or accessible as some of his other novels. It's because he has only appealed to the intellect capable of looking within a painting for an hour, and not the intellect who can listen attentively to an entire Mahler Symphony. To the musical intellect, this book teases with its occasional brief advances in action, then jerkingly stops the microscope repeatedly to focus on the characters. Huxley is unable in this book, like a true master, to keep the microscope moving.
Rated by buyers 
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Like all of Huxley's other books, this one requires that you have some intellect before embarking on reading it. Once you finish it you will feel as though you have done more than just read a novel, but rather you will have a better understanding of the human psyche, this being a product of the novel's rich characterizations and dialog.
Rated by buyers -
Oh, Aldous Huxley. You're a fabulous writer, but couldn't you just take that talent and put it towards something substantial?
"Point Counter Point" has no plot. It's that simple. Instead it has many characters. We follow them around and see how their lives are rather empty and bland. Because we're only seeing moments in time, we don't actually have a storyline or a plot, and therefore nothing to describe here. Right?
Not exactly. Huxley obviously wanted readers to gain something from his book. I saw that he probably didn't really like the wealthy upper classes (he spends a lot of time describing them, their habits, and their lives) or at least didn't like their attitude. He writes about so many secret relationships, about many lies, and about difficulties. Dramas. It's almost like a soap opera at times, but because of Huxley's writing talent, it's actually enjoyable.
I suppose that's the best way to describe this book. It's ENJOYABLE. It's fun to read, even if it doesn't really have a point. Though some parts are quite predictable (of COURSE this person will cheat on their girlfriend), other parts are entirely shocking (how did those two characters just DIE?). This gives the book a whole lot more intrigue and more of a reason to read it.
While perhaps "Point Counter Point" isn't spectacular, it IS an enjoyable, well-written book. It's not nearly as good as "Brave New World", but it's difficult to live up to such a masterpiece. Huxley created a fascinating world in "Point Counter Point". You may like it - you may not. I think it's a pleasant read, but nothing more. I recommend it to people who liked "Brave New World" and want to read more Huxley. It's very different (more society, less science), but still well-written and good, despite the lacking plot.
Rated by buyers -
Every time I write a review of a book which is considered "literature" I am afraid that some Pulitzer Prize winner dude with 2 PhDs is going to track me down and hit me over the head with his cane, but, since I move once a year, I will take my chances. I wish the rest of the book tasted like the very first 20 pages. It starts with a series of insights of the minds of the characters which is just exquisite, but then it dilutes onto other things, which are much, much more mundane and I just do not see the same quality of thought put into the writing until some chapters ahead.
My 2 cents.
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