MADNESS, BADNESS, SADNESS: ALDOUS HUXLEY AND THE SHIFTING SHADOW OF PSYCHOANALYSIS by ADAM

and Access form Library Services May 2009 INFORMATION FOR ABSTRACTING AND INDEXING SERVICES The information on this form will be published. To minimize any risk of inaccuracy, please type your text. Please supply two copies of this abstract page. Full name (surname first): Sidaway, Adam James School/Department: English Full title of thesis/dissertation: Madness, Badness, Sadness: Aldous Huxley and the Shifting Shadow of Psychoanalysis Degree: MPhil (B) Literature and Modernity Date of submission: 31/01/11 Date of award of degree (leave blank): Abstract (not to exceed 200 words any continuation sheets must contain the author's full name and full title of the thesis/dissertation): The influence of Freud on Huxley’s fiction has been frequently understated in criticism. Examining key periods both in history and in Huxley’s life, this thesis reassesses the long-held critical belief that Freud was frequently dismissed by Huxley as ‘bunk’, instead proposing that psychoanalysis was in fact one of Huxley’s major and most enduring intellectual obsessions. Whilst engaging with some of his major novels, this thesis is also concerned with the short stories and novellas that have received rather less critical attention, collectively revealing both the depth and nature of Huxley’s obsession with the concepts of psychoanalysis. This thesis is a radical revision of this contested facet of criticism, proposing that Freud and psychoanalysis were never the subject of satirical attack, but were instead weapons in the satirical artillery against a post-war society that grew increasingly neurotic. Technological and economic progress seems to have been accompanied by psychological regress. The incidence of neuroses and psychoses is apparently on the increase. Still larger hospitals, yet kinder treatment of patients, more psychiatrists and better pills — we need them all and need them urgently. But they will not solve our problem. Aldous Huxley – ‘Madness, Badness, Sadness’