Ape and Essence

Ape and Essence (1948) is a novel by Aldous Huxley, first published in August 1948 by Harper & Brothers in the US, and then in 1949 by Chatto & Windus in the UK. It is set in a dystopia, as is Brave New World, Huxley's more famous work. It is largely a satire of the rise of large-scale warfare and warmongering in the 20th century, and presents a pessimistic view of the politics of mutually assured destruction. The book makes extensive use of surreal imagery, depicting humans as apes who, as a whole, will inevitably kill themselves.