Aldous Huxley Recollected: An Oral History

English author Huxley (1894-1963) moved to the U.S. in 1937 after he had written the books for which he is best remembered, including Antic Hay (1923), Brave New World (1932) and Eyeless in Gaza (1936). Through interviews he conducted with 24 of Huxley's family members, colleagues and friends, Dunaway (How Can I Keep from Singing?) here attempts, with little success, a reevaluation of the years Huxley spent in California. According to Dunaway, critics have dismissed the Hollywood Huxley's screenplays (e.g., Jane Eyre, 1944) as well as his writings on psychedelic drugs and mysticism (Doors of Perception, 1954). Although the comments of his second wife, Laura, and friend Peggy Kiskadden provide insight into Huxley's spiritual concerns and document the severity of his loss of eyesight, many of the interviews never rise above anecdotes about the writer's personal habits and do not evaluate his work. This is gossip masquerading as literary history. (Apr.)