Happily Ever After
Eupompus Gave Splendour to Art by Numbers
One often gets the impression with Aldous that he liked to show off his classical education: “Oooh, hark at me, i know all these ancient Greek people and things.”
All the pompous whimsy aside, the only thing really being said here is Aldous didn’t much think that meditation was good for a person: “Let’s not count breaths, eh.”
Cynthia
A little romance short with Aldous stirring in another good load of the “Oooh, hark at me, i know all these ancient Greek people and things.” that we had in “Eupompus Gave Splendour to Art by Numbers”.
The Bookshop
A short about an impulse purchase all dressed up in a rather lovely piece of descriptive writing. I felt that the undertones of this was Aldous bemoaning the great unwashed and uncultured, while, at the end, he sees that he can’t escape their influence when surrounded on all sides by them: we’re all in this shit life together. Our protagonist finally throws his impulse purchase into some bushes.
I find this story very much to have the seed of what Aldous later grew into his life’s work. The symbolism of the bookshop with its classical music, fashions, art and books; representing education, privilege and wealth; surrounded on all sides by the working classes, poverty and need. How can one enjoy such fruits when he’s reminded and intruded upon, at every moment, that so many don’t have these things.
The Death of Lully
Lully is an early christian martyr that is rescued on a passing ship. A well written short but i’m not sure what the message really is. As a devout non-christian, this kind of thing just turns my brain off.
Sir Hercules
The Gioconda Smile
The Tillotson Banquet
Green Tunnels
Nuns at Luncheon
Little Mexican
Hubert and Minnie
Fard
The Portrait
Young Archimedes
Half Holiday
The Monocle
Fairy Godmother
Chawdron
The Rest Cure
The Claxtons