Huxley, Aldous (1894-1963)

The Genius and the Goddess (part I)

April 1955

"'The something gloom,' she declaimed triumphantly, 'Of my soul's irremediable tomb.'"

"She shook her head; then, frowning at her paper, she read aloud, 'The something gloom Of my soul's deep and dreary catacomb. I don't like it, do you?' I had to admit that I didn't. 'And yet it's exactly what I want to say,' she went on. I had a brain wave. "What about tomb?' Her face lit up with pleasure and excitement. But of course, of course! What a fool she had been! The red pencil started to scribble at a furious rate. 'The something gloom,' she declaimed triumphantly, 'Of my soul's irremediable tomb.' I must have looked dubious, for she hastily asked me if I thought irrevocable tomb would be better. Before I could answer there was another, louder sound of strangling. I glanced toward the window, then back, at the poetess. 'Isn't there anything we can do?' I whispered. The girl shook her head. 'I looked it up in the Encyclopaedia Britannica,' she answered. 'It says there that asthma never shortened anybody's life.' And then, seeing that I was still disturbed, she shrugged her bony little shoulders and said, 'You kind of get used to it.'''
(p. 76)

Architecture::Tomb

Searching "soul" at Harper's Magazine online

Huxley, Aldous. "The Genius and the Goddess (part I)." Harper's Magazine. (April 1955): 73-86. <Link to Harper's>

12/30/2009