Evening star., 1944-08-27
The Neav Books
Time Must Have q Stop
BIZ Aldons Hurley. (Harper.)

acute, amazed and angry horror, at
the irreconcilable separateness Of
what Is possible to the physical
man from what Is desirable to the
spiritual. In the earlier novels and
stories the emotion was expressed
by reportage only. Mr.. Huxley de-
picted the separateness, but made
no attempt to solve 1t. In three
later books, however, he has dealt
with 1t directly, Offering 4 solution.
And in the present book. novel.
he has stated his solution once
again. putting It this time in q
form of persuasive simplicity, as If
hoping, through that simplicity, to
reach the unregenerate. The ad-
jective Is chosen advisedly. There
can be no doubt that he now writes
in . missionary spirit. Yet it has
always been implicit in him. The
reviewer finds some faint amuse-
ment In the fact that 20 years ago
she made the entry in her own
private journal that, II he had In
herited the tradition not of SCI
entists but Of churchmen, he would
certainly have made q very graceful
bishop. For, indeed, he has never
worn the mantle of science easily.
He found 1t essentially a humil-
iating garment and chafed at it
accordingly.
Now. as for some years past, he
bears witness to the world that man
can realize himself only through
an Identification with God to be
achieved by purposeful striving
through the practice Of contempla-
ton. This idea he first expressed
in the long essay. Ends and Means. +"
It Is his solution of the problem of
mans divided nature, his physical
limitations and his spiritual poten-
ttalities. He subsequently repeated
1t in "Grey Eminence," a bio
graphical study ofVather Joseph Of
Paris.
In the novel, after Many a Sum-
mer Dies the Swan" he had already
dealt with the physical horn of the
dilemma, undertaking to demon
strate what would happen to
physical man If physical man were
freed Of the normal expectancy of
death and given an indefinite lease
on his existence. Strictly by physical
laws, he concluded, an existence
thus prolonged would be degenera-
ton. The man who could extend
his life several hundred years would
become an ape. His human qualities
would disappear. The solution,
therefore, does not lie in securing
q longer period beneath the sun,
as Mr.. Shaw and Mr.. Wells have
sometimes insisted. Science itself
is against 1t.
Thus the 20th century inheritor
Of the tradition Of the 18th century
biologists uses biology itself to re-
flute materialism. And thus he per-
forms his part In curing the schism
in modern thought which the work
Of those pioneers created. They, In
their single-minded enthusiasm fol
material truths, took small account
Of spiritual implications. They were
occupied with physical phenomena
and they would let the soul fall
where it might. The latter-day
Huxley goes beyond them, just as
he goes beyond the religious leaders
Of their period who, no less single
mindedly, defended their faith by
fiatly denying the scientists demon.
strable findings. There is . soul
says this Huxley. and the BODY d
man Is the body Of an anthropoid
Neither fact excludes the other.
The conclusion, however, remain,
mere statement II men will not
act upon 1t. Recognition of it will
not reconcile the division between
soul and body. The individual must
make the choice. He can be a body
or he can be SOUL He can be
sensual or spiritual. II he takes
the former course he will be bound
to an increasing squalor which may
continue even after death. II he
chooses the latter he wins to a final
merging with God. That is the
theme which Mr.. Huxley lays down
In his present novel, through a group
Of typical Huxleyian characters
European worldlings of the late 2Os.
He gives it greater implications by
relating it to the war. It Is only
as men recognize their responsible
ties as souls, as fragments Of God,
he says, and relinquish their at
tachments to physical trivialities
that the world can have q hope of
peace. Overall plans cannot achieve
peace. It must come from men
themselves.
The significant thing about the
novel Is its earnestness, the obvious
hope behind it for q popular &C.
ceptance. Mr.. Huxley has never
been an intellectual democrat. On
the contrary, he has been the ex-
tremest of intellectual aristocrats.
Yet now we find him deliberately
adopting mode Of expression aimed
att not the common, at least the
somewhat less common man. It is
new to him and he does not achieve
1t easily. Yet one cannot doubt
its genuineness. It may be as well
to remember. apropos, that saints
have not always come from the
ranks Of the people. Quite often
they have been more than passably