Point Counter Point by Aldous Huxley
Point Counter Point by Aldous Huxley
Another version of this note and thoughts on other books are available at:
This is a monumental novel that I must admit to have rejected years ago.
How foolish one can be.
Aldous Huxley has dazzled me with:
- Brave New World, The Doors of Perception and now this masterpiece.
It is a complex work, with complicated characters and surprising events...
There is even a murder, a few deaths and some love affairs.
Astonishing points of view are expressed on almost anything
From God to the music of Beethoven, from Saint Francis to Tolstoy.
Speaking of Saint Francis, there is a personage that attacks the said Francis with aplomb.
He was sick, licking the wounds of lepers for his benefit.
This Saint did not cure those sick people, he was just enjoying himself.
Perhaps I should be ashamed to admit that I found the remarks funny, albeit in a tasteless, cruel and exaggerated way.
John Bidlake seems to be towering over this account, at least in terms of seniority, if not with his status as the leonine creator of old.
A lover with energy, charm, talent, success and idiosyncrasies he is likeable...up to a point.
Walter Bidlake is one of my favorites, the son of the aforementioned painter and trapped in a disastrous affair with Lucy Tantamount, while also cohabiting with a pregnant Marjorie.
I just realized that I have to give up on the other characters, even if this mix is fascinating.
The dinamic of their relationships was hard to follow sometimes, but this chef d'oeuvre is extremely satisfying.
The dialogues are marvelous and the themes are serious and looked at from unusual angles.
Tolstoy is dismissed as something of an old fool and I happen to have read The Intellectuals by Paul Johnson which shows that despicable side of the Russian writer...and a good number of others:
- Ibsen, Hemingway, Rousseau...
One statement that intrigued me was, I hope similar to what I put here:
- The search for The Truth is not really "noble".
- It is just like any other occupation.
- Indeed, many of those who think about that are ordinary or worse.
It was in the line of challenging Saint Francis, the music of Beethoven which is too wonderful, too heavenly.
And there are characters that challenge most accepted points of view
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