After many a summer dies the swan

355 pages

English language

Published Nov. 21, 1993 by I.R. Dee.

ISBN:
978-1-56663-018-4
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4 stars (2 reviews)

A Hollywood millionaire with a terror of death, whose personal physician happens to be working on a theory of longevity—these are the elements of Aldous Huxley's caustic and entertaining satire on man's desire to live indefinitely. With his customary wit and intellectual sophistication, Huxley pursues his characters in their quest for the eternal, finishing on a note of horror.

"This is Mr. Huxley's Hollywood novel, and you might expect it to be fantastic, extravagant, crazy and preposterous. It is all that, and heaven and hell too....It is the kind of novel that he is particularly the master of, where the most extraordinary and fortuitous events are followed by contemplative little essays on the meaning of life....The story is outrageously good."―New York Times.

"Mr. Huxley's elegant mockery, his cruel aptness of phrase, the revelations and the ingenious surprises he springs on the reader are those of a master craftsman; …

15 editions

Review of 'After many a summer dies the swan' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Definitely a philosophical novel. Long, dense passages of utilitarianism, examination of Fascism and Socialism, and how neither liberates the human. J. Krishnamurti's influence on Aldous Huxley is detected. Interspersed with comic relief of the megarich capitalist's estate of gaudiness, hypocrisy in action. At some parts the reader dispiritedly acknowledges little has changed in 84 years.

The first chapter had me thinking [b:After Many a Summer Dies the Swan|19148641|After Many a Summer Dies the Swan|Aldous Huxley|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1386083191l/19148641.SX50.jpg|1866573] was going to be a send-up like The Loved One. I suppose a historical essay on man's vanities, false beliefs, and idiocies can be funny occasionally if some smut and black humour are interspersed.

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4 stars

Subjects

  • Millionaires -- Fiction
  • Immortalism -- Fiction
  • Hollywood (Los Angeles, Calif.) -- Fiction