Grey Eminence

A gripping biography by the author of Brave New WorldThe 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 prayer or in composing spiritual guidance for the nuns in his care. He was an aspirant to sainthood and a practising mystic yet his ruthless exercise of power succeeded in prolonging the unspeakable horrors of the Thirty Years' War. In his masterful biography Huxley explores how an intensely religious man could lead such a life and how he reconciled the seemingly opposing moral systems of religion and politics. Review Penetrating and vivid... This biography will rank amongst Huxley's best books. He never wrote better he never hit upon a more interesting theme ―Sunday TimesA remarkable biography ―ObserverGrey Eminence is lucid scholarly and thoughtful. Huxley has used all his ingenuity to explain this extraordinary character ―New Statesman About the Author Aldous Huxley was born on 26 July 1894 near Godalming Surrey. He began writing poetry and short stories in his early 20s but it was his first novelCrome Yellow (1921) which established his literary reputation. This was swiftly followed byAntic Hay (1923)Those Barren Leaves (1925) andPoint Counter Point (1928) - bright brilliant satires in which Huxley wittily but ruthlessly passed judgement on the shortcomings of contemporary society. For most of the 1920s Huxley lived in Italy and an account of his experiences there can be found inAlong the Road (1925). The great novels of ideas including his most famous workBrave New World (published in 1932 this warned against the dehumanising aspects of scientific and material 'progress') and the pacifist novelEyeless in Gaza (1936) were accompanied by a series of wise and brilliant essays collected in volume form under titles such asMusic at Night (1931) andEnds and Means (1937). In 1937 at the height of his fame Huxley left Europe to live in California working for a time as a screenwriter in Hollywood. As the West braced itself for war Huxley came increasingly to believe that the key to solving the world's problems lay in changing the individual through mystical enlightenment. The exploration of the inner life through mysticism and hallucinogenic drugs was to dominate his work for the rest of his life. His beliefs found expression in both fiction (Time Must Have a Stop1944 andIsland 1962) and non-fiction (The Perennial Philosophy 1945Grey Eminence 1941 and the account of his first mescaline experienceThe Doors of Perception 1954). Huxley died in California on 22 November 1963. p>b>A gripping biography by the author of i>Brave New World/i>/b>br>br>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 prayer, or in composing spiritual guidance for the nuns in his care. He was an aspirant to sainthood and a practising mystic, yet his ruthless exercise of power succeeded in prolonging the unspeakable horrors of the Thirty Years' War. In his masterful biography, Huxley explores how an intensely religious man could lead such a life and how he reconciled the seemingly opposing moral systems of religion and politics./p>