1 1 ‘Psycho-Physical Wholes’: The Influence of F. M. Alexander and William Sheldon on Aldous Huxley’s Works By James Leavey Student no. 22001637 Goldsmiths, University of London PhD English 2 2 Declaration I hereby declare that the work presented in this thesis is my own. James Leavey 3 3 Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisor, Prof. Chris Baldick, for all his help and support. I would also like to thank Dr Michael Simpson for supervising me in Chris’ absence, Prof. Lucia Boldrini for her help at the start of the project, Dr Derval Tubridy and Dr Andreas Kramer for providing useful advice during the upgrade, my examiners Prof. David Bradshaw and Dr Jane Desmarais for all their help and advice, the staff of the Department of English and Comparative Literature at Goldsmiths for their help, and finally, my friends and family, especially my parents for their continued support and encouragement. 4 4 Abstract Aldous Huxley’s writings, which exhibit his avid interest in all areas of knowledge, including the arts, the sciences, religion, politics, philosophy and psychology, display a tendency to adopt, and attempt to synthesise, the ideas of others, as well as a willingness to embrace unorthodox thinkers. This thesis examines how the works of Aldous Huxley were influenced by two men whose ideas focused upon the relationship between the mind and body: Frederick Matthias Alexander (1869- 1955), inventor of the mind-body therapy known as the Alexander Technique, and Dr William Sheldon (1898-1977), a constitutional psychologist who developed a theory of mind-body types. The phrase ‘psycho-physical wholes’ in the thesis title is taken from a letter from Huxley to E. S. P. Haynes in March 1945: ‘Sheldon considers human beings as they really are – psycho-physical wholes or mind-bodies’.1 This is the central theme of the thesis; it will examine how Alexander’s and Sheldon’s particular conceptions of human beings as psycho-physical entities were profoundly influential upon Huxley’s writings. The thesis as a whole thus provides an important contribution to the study of Huxley’s conception of the relationship between mind and body, and the works he wrote which were impacted by this conception. It provides a contribution to the understanding of the influences that helped to shape the works of Huxley. It sheds further light on the origins of Huxley’s ideas and characters, thus providing additional insight into the often unorthodox ideas that influenced the works of writers and intellectuals in the interwar and postwar period. 1 Letters of Aldous Huxley, ed. by Grover Smith (London: Chatto and Windus, 1969), p. 516, (25 March 1945). 5 5 Contents Acknowledgements ................................................................................................ 3 Abstract .................................................................................................................. 4 List of Abbreviations .............................................................................................. 6 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 7 The Scope of the Thesis .......................................................................................... 7 The Context of the Thesis ..................................................................................... 10 Literature Review ................................................................................................. 18 Part I: The Influence of F. M. Alexander on Huxley’s Works ............................... 28 Chapter 1: Huxley and the Alexander Technique .................................................. 29 Alexander and his Technique ................................................................................ 29 Huxley’s Works before the Influence of Alexander ............................................... 39 Huxley and Alexander .......................................................................................... 42 Chapter 2: Alexander’s Influence on Eyeless in Gaza (1936) ................................ 45 Chapter 3: Alexander’s Influence on Huxley’s Non-Fiction 1937-63 .................... 75 Chapter 4: Alexander’s Influence on Huxley’s Fiction 1937-63 ............................ 97 Part II: The Influence of William Sheldon on Huxley’s Works ........................... 108 Chapter 5: Huxley and Sheldon’s Theory of Human Types ................................. 110 Sheldon’s Theory of Somatotypes....................................................................... 110 Huxley’s Works before the Influence of Sheldon ................................................ 115 Sheldon’s Influence on Huxley’s Works 1937-43 ............................................... 119 Chapter 6: Sheldon’s Influence on Time Must Have a Stop (1944) ...................... 126 How Huxley Uses Sheldon’s Ideas in Time Must Have a Stop ............................ 145 Chapter 7: Sheldon’s Influence on The Perennial Philosophy (1945) .................. 170 Chapter 8: Sheldon’s Influence on Huxley’s Works 1948-63 .............................. 187 Conclusions ........................................................................................................ 228 Bibliography ....................................................................................................... 235 6 6 List of Abbreviations For full details, see Bibliography. All works by Aldous Huxley unless indicated. BNW : Brave New World CCC : Constructive Conscious Control of the Individual (F. M. Alexander) DP : The Doors of Perception EG : Eyeless in Gaza EM : Ends and Means GE : Grey Eminence GG : The Genius and the Goddess I : Island MSI : Man’s Supreme Inheritance (F. M. Alexander) PP : The Perennial Philosophy TMHS : Time Must Have a Stop UCL : The Universal Constant in Living (F. M. Alexander) US : The Use of the Self (F. M. Alexander) VHP : The Varieties of Human Physique (William Sheldon) VT : The Varieties of Temperament (William Sheldon) 7 7 Introduction The Scope of the Thesis Exhibiting his avid interest in all areas of knowledge, including the arts, the sciences, religion, politics, philosophy and psychology, Aldous Huxley’s writings display a tendency to adopt, and attempt to synthesise, the ideas of others, as well as a willingness to embrace unorthodox thinkers. This thesis grew from a study of the many influences on Huxley’s writings. My initial process was to examine Huxley’s life, work, and various influences, and survey the previous literature on Huxley. Whilst many aspects of Huxley’s philosophical development have been studied before, there are certain individuals whose lasting influence on his work has not previously been appraised in detail. I began to research the numerous influences upon Huxley’s works, including the individuals whose ideas can be found in his writings.1 In this thesis, I have chosen to discuss the influence of two men whose ideas were focused upon the relationship between the mind and body. Huxley explicitly endorsed both these men’s concepts in his non-fiction, as well as using them in his novels of ideas, despite the fact that the work of both men was rejected by the scientific establishment. In both cases, Huxley discovered their ideas in the mid-1930s, and in both cases, the interconnection between mind and body was the central tenet of their philosophies. They were Frederick Matthias Alexander (1869- 1955), inventor of the mind-body therapy known as the Alexander Technique, and Dr William Sheldon (1898-1977), a constitutional psychologist who developed a theory of mind-body types. 1 A discussion of all the individuals who influenced Huxley’s works is beyond the scope of this thesis. However, some of the other figures, such as Gerald Heard and Jiddu Krishnamurti, could become the subject of my future writings, utilising some of the research I have already conducted whilst writing this thesis. 8 8 The phrase ‘psycho-physical wholes’ in the thesis title is taken from a letter from Huxley to E. S. P. Haynes in March 1945, a quotation from which forms an epigraph to the section of the thesis on the influence of William Sheldon: ‘Sheldon considers human beings as they really are – psycho-physical wholes or mind- bodies’.2 This is the central theme of the thesis; it will examine how Alexander’s and Sheldon’s particular conceptions of human beings as psycho-physical entities were profoundly influential upon Huxley’s writings. The thesis as a whole thus provides an important contribution to the study of Huxley’s conception of the relationship between mind and body. It provides a contribution to the understanding of the influences that helped to shape the works of Huxley. It sheds further light on the origins of Huxley’s ideas and characters, in so doing providing additional insight into the often unorthodox ideas that influenced the works of writers and intellectuals in the interwar and postwar period. My methodology is a comparison of the texts of Alexander and Sheldon with the texts of Huxley. The focus is on the textual influence, rather than biographical detail, which is presented briefly where relevant. To emphasise the necessity of textual evidence for the influences, I will mention one of my earlier areas of research that did not become part of the thesis. When I began examining figures with whom Huxley became associated, the Swami Prabhavananda, head of the Vedanta Society of Southern California, with which Huxley became involved, was initially included in my research. However, as I researched further, I encountered a problem in that Prabhavananda’s writings express the ideas of Vedanta, ideas which Huxley was familiar with through other channels, such as his own reading, and therefore the degree to which Huxley was influenced by Prabhavananda, and the degree to which he was influenced by the gaining of knowledge of Vedanta from other sources, is impossible to ascertain. Both Alexander and Sheldon, on the other hand, had original ideas that are presented in their published writings and can subsequently be observed in Huxley’s, allowing an 2 Letters of Aldous Huxley, ed. by Grover Smith (London: Chatto and Windus, 1969), hereafter Letters, p. 516, (25 March 1945). 9 9 analysis of their influence on Huxley to be conducted. This thesis examines this evidence. Thus, this is not a study of a writer engaging, consciously and/or unconsciously, with his literary antecedents, such as discussed by Harold Bloom in The Anxiety of Influence.3 This thesis is examining the work of non-fiction writers, who believed themselves to be discoverers and explicators of scientific fact, and how their unorthodox views were consciously, explicitly, publicly endorsed by Huxley in his non-fiction and articles, as well as being used in his construction of his fiction. This study is not intended as a contribution to influence-theory but as a modestly empirical but still substantial contribution to Huxley Studies within the context of intellectual history. The fact that Huxley explicitly endorsed these men, publicly acknowledging their influence upon him, means that the concept of influence, implying agency and a chronological transference of ideas, is definitely applicable here. The empirical evidence exists that in both cases, the ideas of one person are being subsequently adopted by someone else. However, the concept of influence is obviously a complex one, and this thesis avoids a simplistic view of influence, as I outline the ways in which Huxley’s views became aligned with these men’s ideas, and also the ways in which they did not, as well as highlighting that such appropriation is an active, rather than passive, process, as I detail the sometimes subtle, sometimes major ways in which Huxley’s attitude toward, and presentation of, these concepts diverged from their original expression in Alexander’s and Sheldon’s writings. I also consider how Huxley endeavoured to integrate these figures’ concepts into his own agendas and beliefs, at times attempting to combine their ideas with other doctrines and techniques within his own philosophical synthesis, sometimes in ways at odds with the intentions of the ideas’ originators. The thesis is divided into two parts, the first of which discusses the influence of Alexander (as it is Alexander’s influence that can be observed first in Huxley’s works), the second the influence of Sheldon. Finally, a concluding section 3 Harold Bloom, The Anxiety of Influence (London: Oxford University Press, 1973). 10 10 will assess the overall impact of these individuals on Huxley’s writings. The thesis studies Huxley’s writings from 1935, the year Huxley first met Alexander, onwards, for signs of the influence of these men. Even Huxley’s earlier works are at times discussed, for the purposes of contextualising the effects of the subsequent influence of these figures. This study, whilst detailed, is not exhaustive; it examines many examples of the influence of these men, but it does not discuss every example. I attempt to provide an overview of each man’s influence on Huxley’s work, both fiction and non-fiction. The thesis examines Huxley’s novels and essays, but not all of Huxley’s post-1935 novels and essays are discussed, as I focus on the writings deemed most relevant to the study of these influences upon Huxley. The thesis does not discuss Huxley’s drama, poetry, and short fiction. All of Huxley’s plays written in the post-1935 period were adaptations of his earlier short fiction or novels, and his screenplays were either adaptations of others’ works or of his own novels. Huxley’s poetry and short story collections were all published before the influence of either of these two men, as were his travel books, and are thus not relevant to my study. References are made in the thesis to both his published articles and his letters, but again, the process is selective rather than exhaustive. The Context of the Thesis Huxley was not alone among interwar writers in his attempts to integrate often unorthodox ideas into his works, as, due in part to postwar disillusionment, intellectuals explored alternatives to the prevailing systems of thought and meaning. Chris Baldick, in his study Literature of the 1920s: Writers Among the Ruins, in the chapter ‘A Literature of Ideas’, discusses the tendency, despite many modernist claims to the contrary, of literature of the period to be emphatically influenced by ideas, often of an unorthodox nature. Baldick outlines the key texts that view one of the features of modernism as a release from ‘moralistic preaching, didactic