'Sound Wood': Aldous Huxley's 'Two or Three Graces'

On 16 January 1928, Mary Butts recorded in her journal that her mind was full of ‘the worst book ever written on a superb theme, [John] Buchan’s The Dancing Floor, but as if it was illustrated, in a kind of lovely light.’ By contrast, a few weeks later, on 6 February 1928, she gave qualified praise to Two or Three Graces and Other Stories by Aldous Huxley (1926): ‘Blessed man: not a