The Meeting of West and East Cultures in Aldous Huxley’s Philosophical Novel “ Island”

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to prove that Huxley's appeal to the philosophical and religious ideas of the East made it possible to create an ideal society, culture, and perfect personality in the philosophical novel “Island”; to consider examples from the life experience of the artist, which testify to his deep penetration into the culture of the East; to find out how the experience is reflected in the works of the writer, in particular in the philosophical novel “Island”. Methodology. The methods of comparative and hermeneutic analysis and systematization of scientific works on cultural studies, philosophy, psychology and literary criticism, the method of biography and psychoanalysis, as well as N. Khamitov's metaanthropological approach were used, that allowed to consider the works devoted to A.Huxley correctly and deliberately and qualify his work “Island” as a philosophical novel. Scientific results. For the first time, it is stated that it was A. Huxley's appeal to the culture, philosophical and religious ideas of the East that made it possible to create an ideal society, culture, and perfect personality in the philosophical novel “Island”; examples of writer’s deep penetration into the culture of the East from his life experience are considered; a number of philosophical and artistic works, which reflect the mentioned experience of A. Huxley are identified. With the help of metaanthropological methodology, it was possible to find out the creative development of A. Huxley from personal to philosophical world outlook, which led the author to new opportunities in literary work and in understanding the essence of culture. Conclusion. In the novel “Island”, A. Huxley created a model of an ideal society built on the principles of Zen Buddhism - one of the cultures of the philosophical and religious heritage of the East. By going not only beyond the ordinary but also beyond the personal world outlook, the author has artistically demonstrated the ability of the personality to perceive the world around them at a higher level and create talented examples of philosophical prose. The formation of the artist's philosophical world outlook determined his deep penetration into the East culture, contributed to the appearance of philosophical essays, non-fiction and fiction works, the main of which is the philosophical novel “Island”.