ABSTRACT
Of the still younger novelists, a few, such as Henry Williamson, author of The Pathway, may emerge from the ruck of competence. The Pathway, while a very fine novel indeed, and covering a large expanse, shows absolutely no symptom of an innovating mind. In attitude and technique it looks backward instead of forward. One younger novelist, however, has quite definitely emerged from the ruck: Aldous Huxley. Among novelists under forty (he is thirty-five) Aldous Huxley rises high above everybody else as a figure in the world of imaginative prose literature. His novels are anticipated with eagerness; and it is impossible for anybody critically interested in fiction to ignore them. He has matured gradually and surely, which is a good sign. What he will ultimately achieve no one can foretell. What he has so far achieved is one sound and complete novel, Point Counter Point, issued last autumn. He is immensely well-informed about the social structure; his intell igence is acute; he has generally, but not always, a scientific mode of thought; he has taste and erudition; he has power and style; he is courageous, perhaps more courageous than he feels himself to be. He influences his contemporaries, and it may be said that, in the matter of the progress of the novel as an artistic vehicle, he stands for his genera tion; his generation may fairly be judged by him.
