The Genius and the Goddess
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The Genius and the Goddess is a novel by Aldous Huxley that was first published in 1955. It is the fictional account of John Rivers, a student physicist in the 1920s who was hired out of college as a laboratory assistant to Henry Maartens.
Although Maartens himself is a first-rate physicist, he is socially awkward; only through the ministrations of his young wife Katy are their children and household cared for to any great degree. Rivers, over the summer of 1921, also lives in the house and soon finds himself the object of infatuation by the Maartens' daughter Ruth and by Katy, who has to leave for a time to care for a sick parent.
When Katy returns, the stress of her departure has made her husband Henry even more withdrawn than usual. She and John continue their affair until Henry's recovery, where they agree what he doesn't know won't hurt him. Soon after John leaves, Katy dies in an automobile accident. This event indirectly led to John's change of direction in life.
John's telling this story to a friend of his in 1951 because he still feels guilty for finding inspiration from another man's wife; that detail may seem dated today, but the strength of this novel is in its unapologetic portrayal of such feelings. The guilt is there, but it did not destroy either John or Katy; it changed them (for the better or the worse, who can say?).