Antic Hay, Page 30

  Lancing expounded to the visitors all the secrets. The vast, unbelievable, fantastic world opened out as he spoke. There were topics, there were cold seas busy with living beings, there were forests full of horrible trees, silence and darkness. There were ferments and infinitesimal poisons floating in the air. There were leviathans suckling their young, there were flies and worms, there were men, living in cities, thinking, knowing good and evil. And all were changing continuously, moment by moment, and each remained all the time itself by virtue of some unimaginable enchantment. They were all alive. And on the other side of the courtyard beyond the shed in which the animals slept or uneasily stirred, in the huge hospital that went up sheer like a windowed cliff into the air, men and women were ceasing to be themselves, or were struggling to remain themselves. They were dying, they were struggling to live. The other windows looked on to the river. The lights of London Bridge were on the right, of Blackfriars to the left. On the opposite shore, St Paul’s floated up as though self-supported in the moonlight. Like time the river flowed, silent and black. Gumbril and Mrs Viveash leaned their elbows on the sill and looked out. Like time the river flowed, stanchlessly, as though from a wound in the world’s side. For a long time they were silent. They looked out, without speaking, across the flow of time, at the stars, as the human symbol hanging miraculously in the moonlight. Lancing had gone back to his German book; he had no time to waste looking out of windows.

  ‘To-morrow,’ said Gumbril at last, meditatively.

  ‘To-morrow,’ Mrs Viveash interrupted him, ‘will be as awful as to-day.’ She breathed it like a truth from beyond the grave prematurely revealed, expiringly from her death-bed within.

  ‘Come, come,’ protested Gumbril.

  In his hot box Shearwater sweated and pedalled. He was across the Channel now; he felt himself safe. Still he trod on; he would be at Amiens by midnight if he went on at this rate. He was escaping, he had escaped. He was building up his strong light dome of life. Proportion, cried the old man, proportion! And it hung there, proportioned and beautiful in the dark, confused horror of his desires, solid and strong and durable among his broken thoughts. Time flowed darkly past.

  ‘And now,’ said Mrs Viveash, straightening herself up, and giving herself a little shake, ‘now we’ll drive to Hampstead and have a look at Piers Cotton.’

  Also available in Vintage

  Aldous Huxley

  BRAVE NEW WORLD

  With an introduction by David Bradshaw

  ‘Provoking, stimulating, shocking and dazzling’

  Observer

  Far in the future, the World Controllers have created the ideal society. Through clever use of genetic engineering, brainwashing and recreational sex and drugs all its members are happy consumers. Bernard Marx seems alone in feeling discontent. Harbouring an unnatural desire for solitude, and a perverse distaste for the pleasures of compulsory promiscuity, Bernard has an ill-defined longing to break free. A visit to one of the few remaining Savage Reservations, where the old, imperfect life still continues, may be the cure for his distress . . .

  Huxley’s ingenious fantasy of the future sheds a blazing light on the present and is considered to be his most enduring masterpiece.

  Also available in Vintage

  Aldous Huxley

  CROME YELLOW

  With an introduction by Malcolm Bradbury

  ‘Delightful, Crome Yellow is witty, worldly and poetic’

  The Times

  Denis Stone, a naive young poet, is invited to stay at Crome, a country house renowned for its society gatherings. His hosts, Henry Wimbush and his exotic wife Priscilla, are joined by a party of colourful guests whose intrigues and opinions ensure that Denis’s stay is memorable.

  First published in 1921, Crome Yellow was Aldous Huxley’s much-acclaimed debut novel. With the evident relish of the true satirist, he mocked the fads, foibles and spirit of his time with an unsurpassed wit and brilliance.

  Also available in Vintage

  Aldous Huxley

  EYELESS IN GAZA

  With an introduction by David Bradshaw

  ‘Brilliant intellectual fireworks’

  The Times

  Anthony Beavis is a man inclined to recoil from life. His past is haunted by the death of his best friend Brian and by his entanglement with the cynical and manipulative Mary Amberley. Realising that his determined detachment from the world has been motivated not by intellectual honesty but by moral cowardice, Anthony attempts to find a new way to live.

  Eyeless in Gaza offers a counterpoint to the biting cynicism of Huxley’s earlier satirical novels, and is considered by many to be his definitive work of fiction.

  This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

  Epub ISBN: 9781407020891

  Version 1.0

  www.randomhouse.co.uk

  Published by Vintage 2004

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  Copyright © Mrs Laura Huxley 1923

  Foreword copyright © David Lodge 1994

  Biographical introduction copyright © David Bradshaw 1994

  Aldous Huxley has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work

  First published in Great Britain in 1923 by Chatto & Windus

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  ISBN 9780099458180