> APRÈS LE FEU D'ARTIFICE by Aldous Huxley
Se reporter au compte rendu de Anne FERNIEP
In: Revue Esprit Vol. 4, No. 46 (1er Juillet 1936), pp. 579-580

Aged 36, Aldous Huxley was a well-established author when he published Brief candles, a collection of four short stories or novellae, in 1930. It is a work which now finds few readers. Brief candles consists of four bleakly satirical tales about unpleasant people: "Chawdron", "The Rest Cure", "The Claxtons" and the longest, "After the Fireworks". The last of these, was chosen and published separately as the novella After the Fireworks by the Hesperus Press in 2009. It is a nice and careful edition, published with a foreword by Fay Weldon and a short glossary, explaining Huxley's references to classical mythology and Italian literature.

Huxley's After the Fireworks forms a nice companion to Henry James' The birthplace, also published by the Hesperus Press, reviewed above. In both works the admiration and infatuation of readers with an author forms the main theme.

After the Fireworks tells the story of the older, and successful author Miles Fanning, and Pamela Tarn. It is the story of infatuation, initially the irrational admiration of Pamela for Miles, but as the story develops, Miles' attitude or burgeoning amusement with her infatuation turns into a budding romance on his part, as he is falsely led to believe that a romance might be possible. The novella explores all dimensions of the infatuation. Miles is first shown to be cruel, and on the verge of taking advantage of the young Pamela, while he is later shown as fragile as he falls under the spell of the young girl. On the other hand, Pamela is not quite all innocence herself, and is shown to be actively pursuing and scheming in her determination to possess Miles. The turns of the story develop against the backdrop of the warmer climate of Italy.

The novella brims with references to classical works of infatuation. Miles Fanning is the author of several novels, his latest entitled "The Return of Eurydice". Towards the end of the novel he laments, asking why Apollo has left him, as he feels his reason has given way to passion. Meanwhile, the darker side of the Orpheus myth is explored likening Miles to the Devil and Pamela to the light, Hell taking the shape of Dante's hell, and far echo's to the infatuation of Beatrice.

In her name, Pamela surely reminds readers of the ruthless young epistolary heroine of Samuel Richardson, while the name "Tarn" suggests her true love is hidden. In fact, her crush on Miles stands in the shadow of a truer love for Guy, her boyfriend at home in the colder climate of Scotland.

In After the Fireworks, infatuation is described from the classical definition of Freud, whose name appears on the very first page of the story. And as infatuation is the bastard sister of romantic love, and in its adoration the earliest stage of a deeper attachment or even more mature love, the illusion of infatuation inevitably leads to disappointment when learning the truth about a lover, after the emotional fireworks. Huxley's novella takes an interesting turn there as each gets his due.

In its treatment of adoration for an author, Huxley's novella After the Fireworks resembles The birthplace by Henry James. However, while in James's work the adoration stands closer to devotion, Huxley tends more to the irrational passion of infatuation. In fact, the mad and ruthless love of Pamela for Miles foreshadows the wild love of fans for the stars of popular mass culture. In that sense, After the Fireworks is still quite relevant to our time. ( )

Aldous Huxley's 1930 satirical tale of louche, clever novelist Miles Fanning and his orphaned young fan, Pamela Tarn, is quite suggestive, wordy rather then licentious. Not as morally dubious as Lolita, but subtler. ( )

After the Fireworks is the story of aging novelist and womanizer Miles Fanning's brief affair with an adoring young fan, Pamela Tarn. Set in Italy, this novella follows the duration of the couple's affair and the consequences thereof.

It's an engaging read and a great sample of Aldous Huxley's non-Brave New World body of work, showing his true mastery of language and how well he handled the twist and turns of plot.

This is a stunning and well done edition of this work by Hesperus Press. ( )

This Aldous Huxley novel, nicely presented by Hesperus Press in an Early Reviewer edition, is the older man-younger woman chase story which has been around forever. He chases her until she catches him (a saying my mother was fond of quoting). Then they have to live with consequences.

Huxley changes voices (his to hers) about three-quarters into the story and the result is that you are somewhat pummeled with the consequences. However, I like Huxley's work generally, and I recommend this short novel for its language--about people, about settings, about the characters. ( )