After the Fireworks: Three Novellas

Resumen del libro

From one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century, Aldous Huxley, comes his great novella, set in Rome, about a writers affair with a mysterious young fan'now back in print for the first time in the U.S. in more than seventy years and also featuring two other acclaimed short works, plus an original introduction from noted critic Gary Giddins.

'The psychology of the two individuals is shrewdly mastered.... After the Fireworks displays on Huxleys part a rare but genuine if elusive sympathy as well as a sound perception of human shortcomings.''New York Times


In After the Fireworks, three of Aldous Huxleys lost classic pieces of short fiction are collected for the first time. In the title novella, Rome is the stunning backdrop where internationally famous novelist Miles Fanning sets out on a walk down Via Condotti toward the Spanish Steps when he encounters the mysterious Pamela Tarn'a beautiful young American admirer of his work who shares a name, as well as conspicuous personality traits, with a character from his most celebrated book. Though there is a considerable age difference between them and they come from different worlds, both are soon irresistibly drawn into a dangerous affair which has unforeseen consequences.

First published one year before he wrote his classic Brave New World and now back in print for the first time in seventy five years, After the Fireworks is Aldous Huxley at the height of his powers. Featuring an original introduction by National Book Critics Circle Award-winner Gary Giddins, this new collection also includes Uncle Spencer (1924), the story of an aging World War I veterans quest for the lost love he met in a prison during the war, and Two or Three Graces (1926), the tale of a passionate and destructive writers abusive relationship with an impressionable, bourgeois housewife.

Biografía del autor

Aldous Huxley nació el 26 de julio de 1894 en Godalming, cerca de Londres, en el seno de una familia inglesa de gran tradición intelectual. Debido a su deficiente visión, abandonó la idea de estudiar medicina y se graduó en literatura inglesa en el Balliol College de Oxford. Al cumplir los veintidós años, publicó su primer libro, The Burning Wheel (1916), una colección de poemas; en 1919 pasó a formar parte del equipo de redactores de la prestigiosa revista Athenaeum, donde escribió con el seudónimo de Antolycus; y a partir de 1920 colaboró como crítico de teatro en la Westminster Gazzette. En 1920 publicó su primera obra en prosa, Limbo, un libro de cuentos. Y en 1932 escribió, en cuatro meses, la obra que lo haría más famoso: Un mundo feliz, visión futurista y pesimista del mundo, donde muestra una sociedad regida por un sistema inmutable de castas. Los cuervos de Pearblossom es su única obra para niños y fue especialmente dedicada en 1944 a su sobrina Olivia quien, durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial y junto a su familia, abandonó Bélgica para establecerse en el pueblo de Pearblossom, Estados Unidos, a solo seis kilómetros de donde vivían Huxley y su esposa.