The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature Novel of ideas by Aldous Huxley, published in 1936. This semiautobiographical novel criticized the dearth of spiritual values in contemporary society. In nonchronological 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.