The Book Review Depository – “Ape and Essence”

     Ape and Essence is Aldous Huxley’s book about post-apocalyptic America.  Two writers find a script by William Tallis titled, “Ape and Essence” and the subsequent story is the recounting of Tallis’ film.  Prior to the actual plot, Huxley includes a scene with two Albert Einsteins fighting for separate ape armies.  Huxley’s contempt for military and weapons of mass destruction is easily ascertainable from the way this is constructed.  The story is set in Southern California in 2108, after World War III.  A group of researchers from Auckland, New Zealand travel there to study the effects of radiation on the plant life.

     Dr. Alfred Poole is digging samples when he is kidnapped.  He is taken to a community of survivors.  There, he bears witness to the atrocities of the post-war gamma radiation and the degeneration of society.  The people he encounters are deformed and being governed by devil worshippers.  While talking to the Arch-Vicar of the church of Belial, Poole is told that the devil had been sewing the seeds of destruction for decades.  A major result of this new system is the subjugation of women.  They are constantly referred to as “vessels of the Unholy spirit.”  There are even instances of infanticide.

     Juxtaposed with these horros are lines of beautiful poetry from various writers.  The effect of this is that the bleak seems more so, while the beauty stands out that much more.  The only source of inspiration is Poole’s relationship with Loola, a girl he meets shortly after he is taken.  In spite of this, the majority of the story is quite depressing.  Huxley’s thoughtful observations and creative phrasing forces you to take a good, hard look at humanity’s shortcomings.