Brave New World
The clearest introduction to Huxley's social satire, dystopian fiction, and concerns about technology.
Author guide
Aldous Huxley Books in Order
Aldous Leonard Huxley (1894–1963) was an English writer whose career ranged across satirical and philosophical novels, short fiction, poetry, travel writing, literary criticism, social commentary, pacifist essays, drama, and mystical nonfiction. His work combined scientific and literary interests with sustained examinations of technology, education, politics, consciousness, religion, and human freedom. He lived in the United States from 1937 and became especially associated with The Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell, which describe and interpret psychedelic experience. His final novel, Island, presents a humane utopian counterpart to the dystopian Brave New World.
novelsdystopian fictionutopian fictionshort storiespoetryessaysphilosophical nonfictiontravel writingplayspacifist literatureliterary criticismmystical literature
Catalog record updated .
Not sure where to begin?
Start with one of these
Crome Yellow
A lively entry point to his early satirical novels.
The Doors of Perception
A concise introduction to his later philosophical and mystical nonfiction.
Outside the series
Bibliography by category
Novels (23)
- Crome Yellow
novel · 1921
“Crome Yellow” by Aldous Huxley ; 1922 A young English poet, Denis Stone, is spending some time at Crome, an English estate and mansion of the Wimbush family. He is in love with Anne Wimbush, the niece of Henry Wimbush. The other guests…
- Antic Hay
novel · 1923
London life just after World War I, devoid of values and moving headlong into chaos at breakneck speed—Aldous Huxley's *Antic Hay*. like Hemingway's *The Sun Also Rises*, portrays a world of lost souls madly pursuing both pleasure and…
- Those Barren Leaves
novel · 1925
Aldous Huxley spares no one in his ironic, piercing portrayal of a group gathered in an Italian palace by the socially ambitious and self-professed lover of art, Mrs. Aldwinkle. Here, Mrs. Aldwinkle yearns to recapture the glories of the…
- Point Counter Point
novel · 1928
A satiric view of intellectual life in the '20s and is populated with characters based on such celebrities of the time as D.H. Lawrence, KatherineMansfield, Sir Oswald Mosley, Nancy Cunard, and John Middleton Murray, aswell as Huxley…
- Brave New World
novel · 1932
"Aldous Huxley's profoundly important classic of world literature, Brave New World is a searching vision of an unequal, technologically-advanced future where humans are genetically bred, socially indoctrinated, and pharmaceutically…
- Eyeless in Gaza
novel · 1936
The novel focuses on the life of socialite Anthony Beavis, but it does so by employing a non-chronological structure. It juxtaposes four periods of Beavis' life, from the time that he is a young boy in the 1890s up until 1936. The novel…
- The Gioconda Smile: A Story
novella · 1938
- After Many a Summer Dies the Swan
novel · 1939
A Hollywood millionaire with a terror of death, whose personal physician happens to be working on a theory of longevity—these are the elements of Aldous Huxley's caustic and entertaining satire on man's desire to live indefinitely. With…
- Words and Their Meanings
nonfiction · 1940
- The Art of Seeing: An Adventure in Re-education
nonfiction · 1942
- Time Must Have a Stop
novel · 1944
Sebastian Barnack, a handsome English schoolboy, goes to Italy for the summer, and there his real education begins. His teachers are two quite different men: Bruno Rontini, the saintly bookseller, who teaches him about things spiritual;…
- The Perennial Philosophy
philosophical-nonfiction · 1945
The Perennial Philosophy is defined by its author as "The metaphysic that recognizes a divine Reality substantial to the world of things and lives and minds." With great wit and stunning intellect, Aldous Huxley examines the spiritual…
- Science, Liberty and Peace
nonfiction · 1946
- Ape and Essence
novel · 1948
Life in Los Angeles a century after the Third World War, when atomic and bacterial warfare have left the area in ruins.
- Food and People
nonfiction · 1949
- A Day at Windsor
nonfiction · 1953
- The Doors of Perception
philosophical-nonfiction · 1954
- The Genius and the Goddess
novel · 1955
Thirty years ago, ecstasy and torment took hold of John Rivers, shocking him out of “half-baked imbecility into something more nearly resembling the human form.” He had an affair with the wife of his mentor, Henry Maartens—a pathbreaking…
- Heaven and Hell
philosophical-nonfiction · 1956
Inspired by the poetry of William Blake, Heaven and Hell delves into the murky topic of human consciousness through a discussion of religious mystical perception, biochemistry and psychoactive drug experimentation. Heaven and Hell…
- Brave New World Revisited
nonfiction · 1958
In 1958, Aldous Huxley wrote what might be called a sequel to his novel Brave New World, published in 1932, but it was a sequel that did not revisit the story or the characters, or re-enter the world of the novel. Instead, he revisited…
- Island
novel · 1962
The final novel from Aldous Huxley, Island is a provocative counterpoint to his worldwide classic Brave New World, in which a flourishing, ideal society located on a remote Pacific island attracts the envy of the outside world.
- Literature and Science
nonfiction · 1963
Nonfiction (6)
- Along the Road: Notes and Essays of a Tourist
travel-writing · 1925
- Jesting Pilate: An Intellectual Holiday
travel-writing · 1926
- Beyond the Mexique Bay
travel-writing · 1934
- The Elder Peter Bruegel
art-criticism · 1938
- Grey Eminence: A Study in Religion and Politics
biography · 1941
A gripping biography by the author of Brave New World The life of Father Joseph, Cardinal Richelieu's aide, was a shocking paradox. After spending his days directing operations on the battlefield, Father Joseph would pass the night in…
- The Devils of Loudun
history · 1952
In 1634 Urbain Grandier, a handsome and dissolute priest of the parish of Loudun was tried, tortured and burnt at the stake. He had been found guilty of conspiring with the devil to seduce an entire convent of nuns in what was the most…
Short fiction (5)
- Limbo
short-story-collection · 1920
- Mortal Coils
short-story-collection · 1922
Mortal Coils is a collection of 5 stories, which were written by Aldous Huxley in the 1920s. The first story, The Gioconda Smile, involves a short murder story.Permutations Among the Nightingales is a play concerning the amorous problems…
- Little Mexican and Other Stories
short-story-collection · 1924
- Two or Three Graces and Other Stories
short-story-collection · 1926
- Brief Candles
short-story-collection · 1930
Essays and speeches (22)
- On the Margin: Notes and Essays
essay-collection · 1923
- Essays New and Old
essay-collection · 1926
- Proper Studies
essay-collection · 1927
- Do What You Will
essay-collection · 1929
- Holy Face and Other Essays
essay-collection · 1929
- Vulgarity in Literature: Digressions from a Theme
essay-collection · 1930
- Music at Night and Other Essays
essay-collection · 1931
- Texts and Pretexts: An Anthology with Commentaries
essay-collection · 1932
- The Significance of the New Pacifism: Two Addresses
pamphlet · 1935
- 1936...Peace?
pamphlet · 1936
- The Olive Tree and Other Essays
essay-collection · 1936
- The Most Agreeable Vice
pamphlet · 1938
- The Double Crisis
essay · 1949
- Themes and Variations
essay-collection · 1950
- Joyce the Artificer: Two Studies of Joyce's Methods
pamphlet · 1952
- Adonis and the Alphabet and Other Essays
essay-collection · 1956
- On Art and Artists
essay-collection · 1960
- The Politics of Ecology: The Question of Survival
pamphlet · 1963
- Form and Substance
essay · 1968
- America and the Future: An Essay
essay · 1970
- The Human Situation: Lectures at Santa Barbara, 1959
lectures · 1977
Children's books (1)
- The Crows of Pearblossom
children's-book · 1967
A rattlesnake eats every one of Mrs. Crow's eggs until Old Man Owl hatches an idea to solve the problem.
Poetry (7)
- The Burning Wheel
poetry · 1916
- Jonah
poetry · 1917
- The Defeat of Youth and Other Poems
poetry · 1918
- Leda
poetry · 1920
- Arabia Infelix and Other Poems
poetry · 1929
- The Cicadas and Other Poems
poetry · 1931
- Orion
poetry · 1943
Plays (5)
- The Discovery: A Comedy in Five Acts
play · 1924
- The World of Light: A Comedy in Three Acts
play · 1931
- The Gioconda Smile: A Play in Three Acts
play · 1948
- Jacob's Hands: A Fable
play · 1998
- Now More Than Ever
play · 2000
Collaborations (1)
- A Conversation on D. H. Lawrence
coauthored-nonfiction · 1974
Other (2)
- The Prisons
graphic-work · 1949
- New Fashioned Christmas
chapbook · 1968
Frequently asked questions about Aldous Huxley
Who was Aldous Huxley?
Aldous Huxley was an English writer and intellectual whose career included novels, essays, poetry, travel writing, and screenwriting. He is best known for his dystopian fiction and philosophical writing.
Sources: penguinrandomhouse.com (opens in a new tab)penguin.com.au (opens in a new tab)
When and where was Aldous Huxley born, and when did he die?
He was born near Godalming, Surrey, England, on 26 July 1894, and died in California on 22 November 1963.
What influenced Aldous Huxley’s writing?
His thinking was shaped by literary figures including D. H. Lawrence and H. G. Wells, as well as by his family’s scientific and intellectual traditions. Later, Eastern and Western mystical traditions became increasingly important to his work.
Sources: ora.ox.ac.uk (opens in a new tab)encyclopedia.com (opens in a new tab)
What major literary honor did Aldous Huxley receive?
The Royal Society of Literature elected Huxley a Companion of Literature in 1962; the RSL describes this as its highest award.
Why is Aldous Huxley still important today?
Huxley’s work remains influential for its criticism of technology, conditioning, propaganda, and threats to individual freedom. His writing on mysticism and psychedelic experience also shaped later cultural discussions.
Sources: encyclopedia.com (opens in a new tab)penguin.com.au (opens in a new tab)