Crome Yellow
By Aldous Huxley and Mint Editions
3.5/5
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About this ebook
Crome Yellow (1921) is a novel by English author Aldous Huxley. Inspired by his stay at Garsington Manor with members of the Bloomsbury Group, Crome Yellow, Huxley’s debut novel, satirizes the society of England’s intellectual and political elite. In addition to its autobiographical content, the novel investigates such themes as spirituality, the nature and composition of art, and the fear of a dystopian future.
Invited to spend part of the summer at Crome, a country estate owned by Priscilla and Henry Wimbush, Denis Stone arrives by train carrying a draft of his first novel, which he intends to complete during his stay. There, he is introduced as a poet, and quickly falls in love with the young Anne Wimbush, herself enthralled with the painter Gombauld. Faced with disillusionment and disappointment, Stone struggles to write while being subjected to pseudointellectual conversations, lengthy public readings, and devastating characterizations by the guests and hosts of Crome. Memorable characters include Mary Bracegirdle, an adventurous and amorous flapper; Mr. Barbecue-Smith, a hack writer; and Mr. Scogan, a doomsayer with an elaborate dystopian vision. Crome Yellow, a biting work of satire, has earned comparisons to The Great Gatsby continues to be recognized as an important early work from one of England’s most visionary writers.
This edition of Aldous Huxley’s Crome Yellow is a classic of English literature reimagined for modern readers.
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Aldous Huxley
Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) was a prominent and successful English writer. Throughout his career he wrote over fifty books, and was nominated seven times for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Huxley wrote his first book, Crome Yellow, when he was seventeen years old, which was described by critics as a complex social satire. Huxley was both an avid humanist and pacifist and many of these ideals are reflected in his writing. Often controversial, Huxley’s views were most evident in the best-selling dystopian novel, Brave New World. The publication of Brave New Worldin 1931 rattled many who read it. However, the novel inspired many writers, Kurt Vonnegut in particular, to describe the book’s characters as foundational to the genre of science fiction. With much of his work attempting to bridge the gap between Eastern and Western beliefs, Aldous Huxley has been hailed as a writer ahead of his time.
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Reviews for Crome Yellow
404 ratings8 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This example of a country week end novel is the first published work (1921) by Aldous Huxley. In some ways this may have been a novel for the episode structure of "A Dance to the Music of Time". The characters show up, do a number of character revealing acts, chat about their lives, and very little happens in front of the readers. But Huxley is a good character drawing writer and I had a good time.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5It wasn't bad - it just wasn't for me.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5[This started out a little slow; then I went to the audiobook, and the characters came to life. After a couple of chapters, I then went back and forth, audio when commuting, book when sitting still.]There are several passages here that show the kernel of "Brave New World" (1932) to have been fully formed in 1921, at the latest. I recommend it to those who are curious about this, and also to anyone much familiar with the culture of postwar England. Others may find the satire opaque or pointless.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Young poet Dennis Stone attends a country house party at Crome. There are lots of philosophical conversations about artistic matters, the host tells interesting stories about his ancestors and Dennis suffers the pangs of unrequited love. I don't get the title; Crome is the name of the house and village, but why Yellow? The house is built of rosy brick, not of golden Cotswold stone so it's not that.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5There is a passage in which a minister tries to beat his sermon against the "rubber souls" of the congregation. I thought that this might have been an inspiration for the Beatles? But have since heard other theories on the origins of their Rubber Soul.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Huxley's first novel. It lacks the organization and amazing storytelling of Brave New World but you can see that he is toying with the ideas that he will later use in Brave New World. This is a decent read, but I'd only recommend it for people who really enjoy Huxley.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I feel a little guilty that I so enjoyed Crome Yellow, as if I'd been sitting for hours in a high school cafeteria making fun of nearly everyone else, especially my own friends.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I read this so many years ago that I cannot recall the details, but I have kept the paperback for 40 years because the parts that are "Henry Wimbush's engaging accounts of his eccentric ancestors," have haunted me for all those years. It is probably the greatest thing I have ever read.