Beyond the Mexique Bay (Paladin Books) - Softcover

Huxley, Aldous

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0586084819 ISBN 13: 9780586084816

Publisher: Flamingo, 1994

Synopsis

From a calypso tent in Trinidad to the Mayan ruins of Copan, Huxley's account of his journey through the Caribbean, Guatemala and Mexico during the 1930s is a travel writing classic.

About this title

About the Author

Aldous Huxley was born in 1894 near Godalming, Surrey. He began writing poetry and short stories in his early twenties, but it was his first novel, ‘Crome Yellow’ (1921), which established his literary reputation. This was swiftly followed by ‘Antic Hay (1923), ‘Those Barren Leaves’ (1925) and ‘Point Counter Point ‘(1928) – bright, brilliant satires in which Huxley wittily passed judgement on the shortcomings of contemporary society.

From the Back Cover

First published in 1934, 'Beyond the Mexique Bay' is Huxley's splendidly witty and idiosyncratic account of his travels in Guatemala and Mexico, a journey made long before Central America was on the tourist trail. Wandering through the green and fertile coffee plantations of the Antigua valley, reading Spinoza on a train journey from Oaxaca to Puebla, marvelling at the Diego Rivera frescoes in Mexico City and contemplating the Mayan preoccupation with time and mortality, Huxley is an inimitable and endlessly entertaining guide.

"No other writer can approach Huxley's sense of proportion or his discriminating fervour. An immensely readable book written in prose of crystalline and sustained beauty."
V.S. PRITCHETT

"In 'Beyond the Mexique Bay', Huxley paints his pictures of places with cross-lights drawn from literature, art, philosophy, science and history. Though what is before our eyes may only be an old Indian woman selling a few tomatoes in a dusty market place, or a stucco cherub in a dilapidated church, we are at the same time travelling in thought over the vast field of human experience, past and present. These transitions from the particular to the general are managed effortlessly, elegantly and naturally."
SUNDAY TIMES

"Huxley, voyaging on the backbone of Central America, makes its vertebrae the pegs for cosmic speculations. Nearer Bacon than Baedeker, brilliance illuminates every page of this book. A winner."
SPECTATOR

With an introduction by David Bradshaw

Edition details

• Publisher: Flamingo
• Publication date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0586084819
• ISBN 13: 9780586084816
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 198