Bibliofemme Bookclub An Irish Bookclub

The bones of this story concern an English academic’s trip to America to stay with a rich tycoon.

Jeremy Pordage has been employed by Mr Stoyte to go through a wealth of historical documents he has purchased from two down-on-their-luck spinsters of the English aristocracy. Such is Stoyte’s style of personal aggrandisement, he has built himself a castle “mediaeval as only a witty and irresponsible modern architect would wish” where Portage now settles for the job ahead. The other inhabitants of the castle include a kept woman with dubious background and childlike looks, a licentious doctor and a naïve, lovelorn research assistant. Meanwhile, down the hill from the architectural atrocity lives an old school adversary of Jo Stoyle.

Stoyte has been given a warning of his own mortality through a health scare and now rallies his doctor to research into methods of halting if not stopping his imminent demise. Stoyle’s search becomes woven with a story uncovered by Portage about Charles Hauberk, a man who may have lived for two hundred years.

This fiction acts as a skeleton for a myriad of philosophical theories and discussions, which are given air through the dialogue – and in many cases what amounts to monologue – of the characters. Indeed at many times the characters seem mere sticks on which to hang Huxley’s meanderings.

Huxley’s novels have a train of philosophy intertwined with fiction. This works to brilliant effect in Brave New World where the story coveys the idea without becoming a laborious tirade. After Many A Summer is somewhat indulgent. Huxley doesn’t disguise the fact the he is using the prop of fiction to give freedom to his ideas, which leaves the story split at times between action and intellectual discussion. This leaves the reader’s mind wandering off to repeatedly consider at length the meaning of life, society, politics, money, love and humanity – but this is to the detriment of the story, as you tend to race through the philosophy to get back to the action. I am a great fan of philosophical fiction but here it does not blend to great effect.

A book for Huxley fans but not, I fear, for the average reader. If you want to read Huxley I suggest Brave new World as the place to start.