Ape and Essence by Aldous Huxley
"Ape and Essence" is a novel that begins in 1948 within the backdrop of a Hollywood film studio, where screenwriter Bob Briggs discusses his personal troubles with a narrator who reflects on broader themes of politics, art, and ethics. The narrative shifts to the fictional script of William Tallis, discovered after his death, which presents a surreal post-apocalyptic vision of Los Angeles following a devastating World War III. In this dystopian society, the remnants of humanity engage in bizarre rituals, including sacrifices to a devilish figure named Belial, and face harsh societal rules surrounding reproduction and sexuality.
The story follows Dr. Alfred Poole, a botanist sent from New Zealand to rediscover North America, who becomes embroiled in the dark practices of this new society. As he navigates the complexities of survival, he falls in love with Loola, a gravedigger, and together they confront the bleak realities of their world, which is marked by a tyrannical order and a significant loss of humanity. Poole's experiences lead him to question humanity's destructive relationship with the earth and the implications of their existence. Ultimately, "Ape and Essence" challenges readers to consider the consequences of societal structures and the nature of human behavior in extreme circumstances.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Ape and Essence
First published: 1948
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Science fiction—post-holocaust
Time of work: 1948 and 2108
Locale: Los Angeles, California, and the Mojave Desert
The Plot
Ape and Essence begins in 1948, in an office at a Hollywood film studio. Screenwriter/director Bob Briggs is recounting his marital and financial woes to an unnamed narrator. Unconcerned with Bob’s troubles, the narrator contemplates the recent assassination of Mohandas K. Gandhi and the relationship art and science have to politics and commerce. The narrator’s philosophy holds that the ideals of order and perfection are the aesthetics of tyranny and that nationalism and politics are corrupting forces. Gandhi died, the narrator decides, because he became involved in the “machine” of politics, a machine that destroys what it no longer can use.
When they leave the office, the narrator is nearly run over by a truck carrying rejected scripts to the incinerator. When the truck turns a corner, some of the scripts fall off. One of them is Ape and Essence by William Tallis. Curious about the author of this unusual script, the narrator and Briggs go to Tallis’ address, a ranch in the Mojave Desert. They discover that Tallis is dead.
The rest of the book is Tallis’ script, a surreal vision of Los Angeles after World War III, which involves the use of nuclear weapons. New Zealand, one of the few areas not ravaged by radiation, has sent several scientists to “rediscover” North America. The chief botanist, Dr. Alfred Poole, discovers a group of gravediggers in a Hollywood cemetery. All the diggers wear patches reading “NO” on the clothing over their genitals. Poole is in danger of being buried alive until he offers to improve their crops.
Poole discovers that this society worships Belial (the devil) and that he has arrived on Belial Eve, the night on which deformed babies are sacrificed by the ruling class of castrated priests. During the sacrifices, Poole talks with the arch-vicar, who explains that, in the age of the machine, humanity’s self-destruction was inevitable.
The sacrifices are followed by an orgy. Although his prudish upbringing forbids it, Poole joins in the Belial Day orgy with Loola, a gravedigger with whom he has fallen in love. Belial Day begins a two-week period of mating. Sex at any other time of year is punishable by death. A small percentage of the population, called “Hots,” mate all year round. A community of expatriate Hots supposedly has gathered near Fresno, California.
Poole’s report on the possibility of returning to agriculture is bleak. He argues that humanity is a parasite of the earth and that such a relationship always leads to the death of the host. Poole and Loola decide to flee Los Angeles and join the Hots. Crossing the Mojave Desert, they discover the grave of William Tallis (1882-1948).