Happy birthday, Aldous Huxley

It is the birthday of English writer Aldous Huxley (1894), whose sci-fi novel, Brave New World (1932), anticipated the loss of individual identity in a mass production world. It is considered among the best English-language novels of the 20th century. Huxley moved to Hollywood in 1937, and wrote the screenplay for MGM’s Madame Curie. He also contributed to 20th Century Fox’s 1943 production of Jane Eyre but filmmaking’s frenetic pace didn’t suit him and he returned to writing for print. However, he continued to live in Hollywood until his death in 1963. He became a friend of Swami Prabhavananda and immersed in spiritualism and psychedelic drugs. He died on the same day as C.S. Lewis and John F. Kennedy. Writer Peter Kreeft’s novel Between Heaven and Hell: A Dialog Somewhere Beyond Death with John F. Kennedy, C.S. Lewis, and Aldous Huxley (1982), features a conversation between the three men about Jesus.