Huxley’s “Jungle of Noise” in Point Counter Point

Abstract

Point Counter Point, Aldous Huxley’s experiment with the ”musicalisation of fiction” (PCP 384, –References to Point Counter Point will be abbreviated hereon in PCP–) was published in 1928, the end of a decade of post-war trauma, conflicting ideologies, proliferating scientific theories, new technologies and reckless hedonism. These amalgamated aspects found their expression in the novel’s cubist montage, contrapuntal orchestration and cynical tone. I argue that, in tandem with the experimental poetry and prose of Huxley’s contemporaries, Point Counter Point set the tone for a new literary culture on both sides of the Atlantic. This approach accounts for the novel’s experimental techniques and design, starting from the ”jungle of noise” (65) metaphor.