The Devils of Loudun

Aldous Huxley

Vintage, 2005 - Biography & Autobiography - 376 pages

A gripping biography by the author of Brave New World

In 1634 Urbain Grandier, a handsome and dissolute priest of the parish of Loudun was tried, tortured and burnt at the stake. He had been found guilty of conspiring with the devil to seduce an entire convent of nuns.

Grandier maintained his innocence to the end but four years after his death the nuns were still being subjected to exorcisms to free them from their demonic bondage. Huxley's vivid account of this bizarre tale of religious and sexual obsession transforms our understanding of the medieval world.

About the author

Aldous Huxley was born on July 26, 1894, in Surrey, England, into a distinguished scientific and literary family; his grandfather was the noted scientist and writer, T.H. Huxley. Following an eye illness at age 16 that resulted in near-blindness, Huxley abandoned hope of a career in medicine and turned instead to literature, attending Oxford University and graduating with honors. While at Oxford, he published two volumes of poetry. Crome Yellow, his first novel, was published in 1927 followed by Antic Hay, Those Barren Leaves, and Point Counter Point. His most famous novel, Brave New World, published in 1932, is a science fiction classic about a futuristic society controlled by technology. In all, Huxley produced 47 works during his long career, In 1947, Huxley moved with his family to southern California. During the 1950s, he experimented with mescaline and LSD. Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell, both works of nonfiction, were based on his experiences while taking mescaline under supervision. In 1959, Aldous Huxley received the Award of Merit for the Novel from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He died on November 22, 1963.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Devils of Loudun; Vintage classics; Vintage international
• Author: Aldous Huxley
• Editor: David Bradshaw
• Contributor: David Bradshaw
• Edition: illustrated, reprint, revised
• Publisher: Vintage, 2005
• ISBN: 0099477769, 9780099477761
• Length: 376 pages
• Subjects: Biography & Autobiography / Historical; History / Europe / France; History / Europe / Medieval; History / Modern / 17th Century; Law / Criminal Law / Sentencing; Religion / Christianity / Catholic; Religion / Christianity / History; Religion / Cults; Religion / Demonology & Satanism; Religion / Religious Intolerance, Persecution & Conflict; Religion / Sexuality & Gender Studies