As an acclaimed novelist, Miles Fanning is well used to the unwanted attentions of his fans as he goes about his daily business. Yet little prepares him for the determination of the gauche Pamela Tarn who resolves to enter not only his world, but also his bed. Initially repelled by the enormity of the age gap between them, Fanning vows never to acquiesce, and resorts to his most boorish behavior in an attempt to break the hold he unwittingly has over her. Yet as they are inexorably drawn together, they embark upon a tempestuous—and ultimately destructive—affair.
Aldous Leonard Huxley was an English writer and philosopher. His bibliography spans nearly 50 books, including non-fiction works, as well as essays, narratives, and poems. Born into the prominent Huxley family, he graduated from Balliol College, Oxford, with a degree in English literature. Early in his career, he published short stories and poetry and edited the literary magazine Oxford Poetry, before going on to publish travel writing, satire, and screenplays. He spent the latter part of his life in the United States, living in Los Angeles from 1937 until his death. By the end of his life, Huxley was widely acknowledged as one of the foremost intellectuals of his time. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature nine times, and was elected Companion of Literature by the Royal Society of Literature in 1962. Huxley was a pacifist. He grew interested in philosophical mysticism, as well as universalism, addressing these subjects in his works such as The Perennial Philosophy (1945), which illustrates commonalities between Western and Eastern mysticism, and The Doors of Perception (1954), which interprets his own psychedelic experience with mescaline. In his most famous novel Brave New World (1932) and his final novel Island (1962), he presented his visions of dystopia and utopia, respectively.
The concept of a literary canon (aka: arbitrary decisions made by pretentious white dudes) irritates me to no end. It forces a very specific kind of reading and literary cultural history upon ~educated readers~ -- and it's in very few ways a positive one. Sure, there are some objectively brilliant classics, but what falls to the wayside may be just as excellent.
I feel like -- aside from Brave New World -- Huxley fell to the wayside. And that is a travesty, because I suspect Aldous Huxley is a literary king.
Okay okay alright let's do this. Here's the thing: we've all got narrative preferences, you know, things we seek out in media. Why do we like them? Who knows. But some of us look for vampire love stories, or dystopian futures, or strong female heroines, or accurate medieval peasant stories. Insert your preference(s) here -- whatever you get excited about when you see it in the summary. One of mine, no analysis please and thank you, is older guys and younger girls. It's likely Nabokov's fault, but don't read too much into it.
So: this is a story about a 50-year-old famous writer and a 21-year old ingenue. I, being me, am ready to exercize that expensive interpretive brain my Lit degree gave me & craft the relationship into something lovely, even if it isn't (ah, the joys of personal interpretation). But here's why Huxley should be among the greats: I couldn't do it.
Subtly, powerfully, Huxley creates two of the most narcissistic, irritating characters I've ever read -- and even I found their relationship grating. Pamela is a twit; Miles is an asshole; they both think the universe revolves around them, and -- tale as old as time -- it inevitably collapses on top of them. And he shows, man; Huxley doesn't tell you shit. If you don't keep up with his snark, this would be painful and pointless to read.
But if you do. And if you appreciate his subtlety, his impeccable skill at crafting characters by virtue of their actions and thoughts, his consistency and his love of phrasing --- if you can laugh at Miles & Pam and admit your own complicity, existence, in their stories --- if you believe, for a split second, that there's something deeper that the two of them are desperately ignoring, can't quite articulate, that comes to a head then fizzles to nothing --- if you trust that Huxley is among the greats and let him spin his magic ---
Ομολογώ, είχα μια διαφορετική εικόνα στο μυαλό μου για τον Χάξλεϊ διαβάζοντας το Brave new world, Δηλαδή δεν μπορούσα να τον φανταστώ να γράφει κάτι άλλο παρεκτός από φαντασία - δυστοπία. Κι' όμως , μου άρεσε ο τρόπος της αφήγησης του σε αυτή τη νουβέλα , η οποία πραγματεύεται αυτό που δηλώνει και ο τίτλος της , σε δυο επίπεδα. Στον ερωτικό τομέα, τι νιώθουμε όταν πέφτει η αυλαία, η ειδάλλως "μετά τα πυροτεχνηματα" για τον ήδη ξεπερασμένο εραστή ή ερωμένη μας, ενώ παράλληλα, η ιστορία που μας αφηγείται, ξεκινά ένα βράδυ που ο ήρωας και η ηρωίδα παρακολουθούν την τελετή των πυροτεχνημάτων στην Ρώμη.
Ως προς το σενάριο και πάλι αντισυμβατικός ο συγγραφέας μας, παρουσιάζει την αποτυχία του 50χρονου ήρωα του να σταθεί αντάξιος των ηθικών του αρχών και βρίσκεται να υποκύπτει στην γοητεία του έρωτα μιας 20χρονης θαυμάστριας του με την οποία επιστολογραφούσε.
Παρουσιάζονται με ενδελεχή ανάλυση τα συναισθήματα και οι σκέψεις και των δυο ατόμων, τόσο από ψυχολογική σκοπιά, τόσο και από προσωπική οπτική γωνία .
Ήξερε από την αρχή ο πενηντάχρονος συγγραφέας- ήρωας της νουβέλας, εν ονόματι Μάιλς , τι θα συνέβαινε αν υπέκυπτε στο πάθος της 20χρονης Παμέλας... αλλά, κανείς δεν μπορεί να αποφύγει το αναπόφευκτο, έτσι δεν είναι...
Αυτά. Μου άρεσε, αλλά δεν με συντάραξε και συθέμελα. Παραμένει Χάξλεϊ, σε μια άλλη εκδοχή όμως.
I received this as an Early Reviewers copy from LibraryThing. After the Fireworks was originally published in the 1930s and is supposed to be satirical, but I didn't really get the satire in it.
The story follows a well-known, middle-aged, womanising novelist and a 21 year-old fan who meets up with him in Rome. Her desire is to be an intellectual, but she doesn't seem to be particularly interested in learning anything. He takes her around Rome trying to educate her while trying to resist her advances, even though he's interested in her.
There is some philosophical discussion throughout, which is sometimes interesting and sometimes a little tedious. I did find some parts of it quite thought-provoking and Huxley's style of writing is interesting (in a good way).
I'm not sure that it's a story I would recommend to all and sundry, but if you've enjoyed other stories by the same author, you will likely enjoy this as well.
Μετά τα πυροτεχνήματα. Άλντους Χάξλεϊ 📖📖📖 Στο “μετά τα πυροτεχνήματα” ο Χάξλεϊ δημιουργεί την κατάλληλη ευκαιρία ώστε να οδηγήσει την δημιουργική του δραστηριότητα, μέσω της ευρηματικής πένας του, σε μια αυτοαναφορική αποκάλυψη για τον κλάδο των συγγραφέων, που εύκολα θα μπορούσε να γενικευτεί προσκαλώντας τον αναγνώστη σ’ένα σταθερό πλαίσιο στοχασμού και αναθεώρησης για κάθε δημιουργικό κλάδο, και να τον κατευθύνει μέσα από την ασφάλεια της εξ’ αποστάσεως επαφής του με τον ήρωά του, στην (τεράστια συζήτηση) διαίρεση της δημιουργικής διαδικασίας από την προσωπικότητα του κάθε δημιουργού και κατ’ επέκταση στην αποδέσμευση της ευθύνης που προκύπτει από τη σχέση του καλλιτέχνη με τον αναγνώστη- θαυμαστή του. Η αφηγηματική του δομή προσεγγίζεται από δύο διαφορετικές κατευθύνσεις που ανήκουν στους δύο χαρακτήρες της πλοκής του, τον “ώριμο” συγγραφέα και τη νεαρή του θαυμάστρια. Η καλοδουλεμένη χαρακτηρολογία του (όπως έχω ήδη αναφέρει ο Χάξλεϊ είναι μαέστρος στην ανέλιξη της πλοκής του με την εκφραστική του μεθοδολογία που αγγίζει τον επιστημονισμό) σε συνδυασμό με το φιλοσοφικό βάθος που προσδίδει στα μικρά περιστατικά που διαμορφώνουν τη σχέση τους κάνουν τη δημιουργία του άλλη μια απολαυστική εμπειρία. Πέρα από την “πρώτη ανάγνωση” που παραμένει στο προφανές της- περιορισμένων δυνατοτήτων- σχέσης των πρωταγωνιστών του, μια βαθύτερη θεώρηση του έργου του αποκαλύπτει μια γλυκόπικρη αίσθηση που προέρχεται από τη συνειδητοποίηση της ματαιότητας των επιφανειακών σχέσεων που στηρίζονται στις ανάγκες που δημιουργεί η ανασφάλεια, η αφέλεια, το σύντομο σαρκικό πάντρεμα που χαϊδεύει αυταρέσκειες, ψηλώνει προσωρινά το “εγώ” και στερείται της πραγματικής οικειότητας μιας ουσιαστικής γνωριμίας με τον άλλον σε βάθος χρόνου. Ο χρόνος γίνεται κριτής και σαν καθρέφτης που αντανακλά κάθε προσωπική ασκήμια, όσο επιτηδευμένα κρυμμένη κι αν είναι, κάθε λεπτή υποκρισία και ψευδαίσθηση, φέρει στο φως την αλήθεια και απαιτεί με τις αποκαλύψεις του την ανάληψη ευθυνών. Ηαφήγησή του γίνεται στα χέρια του μια μαθηματική πράξη αξιολογικού χαρακτήρα που απαιτεί διαύγεια και ξεπερνά κατά πολύ το στοιχειώδες!
Beautifully depressing but oddly disatisfying. I don't care about the egocentric Miles or the essentially narcissistic Pamela so their ultimate predicament didn't move me the way I felt it should. Still, an accurate description of the emotions when you realise you've fallen out of love with someone.
An impressively crafted piece of modern fiction from Huxley, who I otherwise only know from ‘Brave New World’. This is, in many ways, a very different type of read.
Where you go into ‘Brave New World’ expecting and getting (what I call) a ‘clever read’ from the start, ‘After the Fireworks’ starts off frivolously. It actually reads as one of my least favourite type of books first: what feels like a self-serving narrative where an old, genius white guy (Fanning, around his 50s) is obsessed over and pursued by a young, beautiful, naive woman (Pamela of 21). He is powerful in his intelligence, experience and honourable in how he tries oh-so-hard to resist her, while she’s uncultured, desperate and wanting. Yuck.
However, Huxley both doubles down and twists this narrative. He writes from both Pamela and Fanning’s narrative, balancing brashness and sensitivity. Fanning may self-rationalise his wholly inappropriate relationship by blustering over Pamela’s desperation and wanton-ness, but we see the cracks in his obsession with her body and how this extends to when he treats her cruelly - through words and physically. Huxley extends sympathy to Pamela, who only wishes to be considered less for her body and more for her mind - her desperation wasn’t necessarily to love a famous writer for his power, but to be respected by him…especially in a world where she was very unlikely to be respected as a writer herself.
Ultimately, ‘After the Fireworks’ is both a sorrowful love story, but also a narrative on misogyny, what it means to be ‘cultured’ and hold power.
Favourite Quote: ‘but [Miles] said, it’s a question of speech, and bodies don’t speak, onlyminds, and when two minds are different ages it’s hard for them to understand each other when they speak, but bodies can understand each other, because they don’t talk, thank God, he said, because it’s such a comfort to stop talking sometimes, to stop thinking, and just be for a change. But I said that might be alright for him, but just being was my ordinary life and the change for me was talking, was being friends with someone who knew how to talk and do all the other things talking implies, and I’d imagined I was that, besides just being somebody he went to bed with, and that’s why it was so miserable, because I found out I wasn’t, and those beastly Peddlers were.’
[Spoiler near end] 21-year old Pamela Tarn writes acclaimed middle-aged novelist Miles Fanning a letter and stalks him. Fanning is interested in Pamela because of her youth, beauty and their shared interest of animal metaphors, and she, for his insight and ability to make her feel at ease.
The book begins humorously, with Fanning scolded by a friend who lends him his home at Rome for a few months. Fanning's playfulness and popularity with others enrage that bachelor friend. To create greater jealousy and revenge, Fanning reads aloud Pamela's fan mail and, so embarks closer to his misery.
There would be a point in the book where Fanning tries to enrich Pamela's cultural literacy and delves deeply into scientific teaching that was, admittedly, difficult to understand at times. This part would seem tedious to some readers but serves a crucial purpose since the scene portrays Pamela's boredom at being "educated" through our own emotions.
Fanning ultimately engages in his own failure—of love and health— by refusing to follow his own advice. Though he knew that Pamela did not love him, but an image she created of him, he fell into the temptation of youth and lost himself.
The book is deeply powerful in that it makes the reader question whether we, like Pamela, are crafting the image of other people by the way we want them to be.
ზუსტად ესაა სიყვარული... საინტერესო და მომაბეზრებელი, შთამაგონებელი და განმგმირავი, აღმაფრთოვანებელი და შეურაცხმყოფელი, (კიდევ ათასი ერთმანეთთან შეუთავსებელი რამ), მაგრამ რაც მთავარია სასრული და ამოწურვადი.
(Loomingu Raamatukogu, # 8-9/2015) Pealkiri: Pärast tulevärki Autor(id): Aldous Huxley Kujundaja: Jüri Kaarma
Kirjastus: Perioodika Linn: Tallinn Aasta: 1988 Originaalkeel: inglise keel Tõlkija: Mati Soomre ISBN: Lehekülgi: 104 Sari: Loomingu raamatukogu, sarja osa: 18-19
Mõõdud: Suurus: tavaformaadis pehmete kaantega raamat
Sisu: ''Pärast tulevärki'' kujutab endast ühe keerukasse olukorda sattunud inimese psühholoogilist süvauurimust. Tõuke novelli kirjutamiseks sai autor Chateaubriand'i kirju lugedes.
Not recommended. Another reviewer aptly said "I don't care about the egocentric Miles or the essentially narcissistic Pamela so their ultimate predicament didn't move me the way I felt it should." I didn't understand at all the satire, which is perhaps an indictment on me but as a reasonably intelligent and well-read human being I'm not fussed by such pretension.
There was one idea that I did like, however, namely: "That's the definition of culture - knowing and thinking about things that have absolutely nothing to do with us. About Etruscans, for example; or the mountains on the moon; or cats'-cradle among the Chinese; or the universe at large [...] But make the acquaintaince of a few practical businessmen - the kind who have no time to be anything but alternately efficient and tired. [...] Get to know those people; [i]they'll[/i] make you see the point of culture. Just as the Sahara'll make you see the point of water."
ორივე მოთხრობაში მწერალი გვიჩვენებს სიყვარულის უძლურებას იმ არსებული პირობების ფონზე: განსხვავება ასაკს, ინტერესებს შორის, გამორიცხავს წყვილის ხანგრძლივ ბედნიერებას. მომეწონა მწერლის ენა და განსაკუთრებით ფინალები.