Yola, the Polish Socrates of north London
In Aldous Huxley’s novel Crome Yellow, published in 1921, when its author was 27, a young poet visits a grand country house as the guest of a literary hostess.
At the party, he meets various grandees. It’s a satire of Huxley’s real-life experiences – one character was based on Bertrand Russell – and he’s obviously fond of his characters, even though he teases them quite mercilessly.
The literary hostess in question was based on Lady Ottoline Morrell, and
