Eyeless in Gaza (novel)
 Dust-jacket from the first edition | |
| Author | Aldous Huxley |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | novel |
| Publisher | Chatto & Windus |
Publication date | 1936 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | Print (Hardback) |
| Pages | 619 pp |
| ISBN | NA Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character |
Eyeless in Gaza is a bestselling novel by Aldous Huxley, first published in 1936. The title originates from a phrase in John Milton's Samson Agonistes:
- ... Promise was that I
- Should Israel from Philistian yoke deliver;
- Ask for this great deliverer now, and find him
- Eyeless in Gaza at the Mill with slaves ...
The title of the book, like Milton's poem, recalls the biblical story of Samson, who was captured by the Philistines, his eyes burned out, and taken to Gaza, where he was forced to work grinding grain in a mill.
The chapters of the book are not ordered chronologically. Aldous Huxley biographer Sybille Bedford claims in her fictive memoir Jigsaw that the novel's characters Mary Amberley, a drug addict, and her daughter, were partly inspired by her own experiences with her morphine-addicted mother and herself, known to Huxley because they were neighbours in the south of France.
Plot
The novel focuses on the life of Anthony Beavis, with flashbacks into different moments of his life, as he discovers pacifism and then mysticism. [1]
Adaptation
It was adapted by Robin Chapman as a BBC mini-series in five episodes, shown in 1971.[2]
References
- Bleiler, Everett (1948). The Checklist of Fantastic Literature. Chicago: Shasta Publishers. p. 156.
- Bedford, Sybille, Aldous Huxley: A biography - 1973 - the standard, two-volume authorised biography of Huxley
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