After Many a Summer Dies the Swan: A Novel

"After Many a Summer" is a rambling affair, more philosophical exercise than narrative, but beautifully written and rewarding for the reader who sticks with it past the first few chapters.The book, a rumination on greed and a statement against the suppurating wound that is Hollywood, concerns a moronic, self-loathing mogul hidden away in his Xanadu-like castle who nevertheless fears death and wants to live forever. With the help of his sex-crazed doctor, hilarity ensues involving carps that have been around since Napoleon was in his diapers, and a member of British nobility and his housekeeper who have devolved into ape-men -- all interspersed with a nearly nihilistic discourse between the mogul's sagacious neighbor and a naive research assistant: ("Pleasure cannot be shared; like Pain, it can only be experienced or inflicted, and when we give Pleasure to our Lovers or bestow Charity upon the Needy, we do so, not to gratify the object of our Benevolence, but only ourselves" or "In relation to Pain, that empty word, Infinity, comes near to having a meaning. This is not the case with Pleasure; for Pleasure is strictly finite and any attempt to extend its boundaries results in its transformation into Pain.")Huxley has turned in a great satire on the American Dream that is no less relevant or biting 70 years after it was first published. It's like "The Picture of Dorian Gray" without the beauty, or "Citizen Kane" without the grandstanding.If it were just for the ideas alone, "After Many a Summer" might not be enough to turn the pages, but Huxley's flair for weaving the tiniest details into startling prose are as evident here as in the more accessible "Brave New World." For example, this description of the naive research assistant in the midst of a sea change, after taking off his glasses in preparation for sleep: "Deprived of their six and a half diopters of correction, his eyes were instantly reduced to a state of physiological despair. Curved crystal had become their element; unspectacled, they were like a pair of jellied sea creatures, suddenly taken out of water. Then the light went out; and it was as though the poor things had been mercifully dropped for safe keeping, into an aquarium."

This well told tale contains, in the voice of one of its characters, a philosophy that explains why human history is NOT also human progress and presents one of the ways this could change if only humans could change. If you have a strong religious philosophy, it would be a good idea to run Huxley's thinking by your own beliefs to see where you differ. If you have no particular philosophy that is paramount in your life, this may be a good book to see if you would consider having one. And for everyone there is an interesting novel with characters seemingly based on William Randolph Hearst and his paramour Marion Davies. While the comparison is not precise and the actions that the characters take are not, as far as I know, any actions that ever were taken by the two real persons above, the mental examination of that sort of wealthy life is very interesting. There are dark ironies that readers in the last three decades might well think are reminiscent of John Irving. You may find yourself laughing somewhat self-consciously at times because some of the things you are laughing at are disturbing. Once the philosophy was presented, I was expecting more towards the end of the book, but alas was left with just the concluding incidents of the story. You will nit your eyebrows thinking about this one long after the story ends. And it has a haunting way of making you look at and interpret events around you in light of his character's arguments. No other recent novel has done that for me.

First if you haven't read Brave New World or Island, read those first.This is an interesting book. It's got lots of deep philosophy about what good humans are capable of, and why they're repeat past mistakes. In fact, it seems as the story takes a back seat to the philosophy. If you want a very entertaining story look elsewhere as this book is as much Immanuel Kant as it is an entertaining novel. The story that weaves through the philosophy is nonetheless captivating however.That said this has some of Huxley's deepest most poignant bits of philosophy. And the premise: the search for immortality at all costs is brilliantly discussed. The ending is quite hilarious as well. He also has some interesting ideas on gut health while not exactly correct are surprisingly knowledgeable for a man without formal scientific training.

A very interesting novel, based in late 1930s Los Angeles at a San Simeon-like castle, with leading characters remarkably similar to WR Hearst and Marion Davies. At times extremely racy for a book published in 1939, it takes you places Citizen Kane could not go -- i.e. sexually explicit situations and into the lascivious minds of the participants. The high-tech advancements available to the mega-wealthy Hearst-type in the 1930s are ones that even today all cannot afford. The ideas about ecological living, etc. -- unfortunately long departures from the storyline -- are the same as what's bandied about now. Incredible descriptions of LA hold up amazingly, all that's needed to advance them into the 21st century is the addition of mega-skyscrapers, freeways and traffic jams. Books by authors who are iconic for one massive success such as Brave New World, often have terrific material that's unfortunately overlooked, or just lost in time. Having recently found and enjoyed Erich Maria Remarque's less famous works, and this, I now look at the work of their American contemporaries like Hemingway and Fitzgerald with a jaundiced eye, and wonder....Is that all there is?

Vivid images of California and Hollywood around the 1930's woven into a very good story. It is a quite unusual read in a good way.

Profound, well written and so ahead of its time.Excellent seller, most advantageous price!

After Many a Summer is Huxley's great story of LA and California.Its images from the thirties have inspired other great writers, Evelyn Waugh with The Loved One among them. Huxley's bitter-sweet philosophy reads as fresh today as when he wrote it during the Spanish Civil War. Don't fail to read this. One word of advice AVOID THE DUMMIED-UP VERSION by the FOLIO SOCIETY, London, 1980, which includes illustrations. This will always be a MODERN book and should be presented as such. Pete Edler, Stockholm

I'm not going to spoil this book for anyone by going into lots of detail about it... suffice to say that I had never even heard of it before, and it went on to be one of the the books that I've read that most deeply touched my thoughts and my mind. To anyone who has any interest in philosophy, in books like The Power Of Now, who thinks about why we are all here and what it might all be about... then this is the book for you. Enjoy! :-)

Tolle Dialoge wie ....(original in Französisch und von mir übersetzt) "mein Frühling und mein Sommer sind aus dem Fenster gesprungen". Das bezieht sich auf eine konkrete Frage die ich jedoch nicht verraten möchte.

One of my favourite books!