Literature - Novel of ideas by Aldous Huxley. This semi-autobiographical novel criticized the dearth of spiritual values in contemporary society. In non-chronological fashion, the novel covers more than 30 years in the lives of a group of upper-middle-class English friends, especially Anthony Beavis and his longtime married lover, Helen. His intense prep-school friendships continue at Oxford; most important are his relationships with Brian Foxe, who later commits suicide; with Hugh Ledwidge, who marries Helen; and with Mark Staithes, who becomes a Marxist and with whom Beavis goes to Mexico to fight in a revolution. While in Mexico, Beavis adopts a Buddhist-centered philosophy, practices meditation, and becomes a pacifist.