Afternoon Men

Anthony Powell

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Written from a vantage point both high and deliberately narrow, the early novels of the late British master Anthony Powell nevertheless deal in the universal themes that would become a substantial part of his oeuvre: pride, greed, and the strange drivers of human behavior.
More explorations of relationships and vanity than plot-driven narratives, Powell's early works reveal the stirrings of the unequaled style, ear for dialogue, and eye for irony that would reach their caustic peak in his epic, A Dance to the Music of Time.

In Afternoon Men, the earliest and perhaps most acid of Powell's novels, we meet the museum clerk William Atwater, a young man stymied in both his professional and romantic endeavors. Immersed in Atwater's coterie of acquaintances--a similarly unsatisfied cast of rootless, cocktail-swilling London sophisticates--we learn of the conflict between his humdrum work life and louche social scene, of his unrequited love, and, during a trip to the country, of the absurd contrivances of proper manners.

A satire that verges on nihilism and a story touched with sexism and equal doses self-loathing and self-medication, AfternoonMen has a grim edge to it. But its dialogue sparks and its scenes grip, and for aficionados of Powell, this first installment in his literary canon will be a welcome window onto the mind of a great artist learning his craft.

Book Details

Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Publish Date: Nov 6th, 2014
Pages: 220
Language: English
Edition: undefined - undefined
Dimensions: 8.40in - 5.50in - 0.60in - 0.65lb
EAN: 9780226186894
Categories: • Literary

About the Author

Powell, Anthony: - Anthony Powell (1905-2000) was an English novelist best known for A Dance to the Music of Time, which was published in twelve volumes between 1951 and 1975. He also wrote seven other novels, a biography of John Aubrey, two plays, and three volumes of collected reviews and essays, as well as a four-volume autobiography, an abridged version of which, To Keep the Ball Rolling, is available from the University of Chicago Press.

Praise for this book

"The funniest novel you've never read. . . . Afternoon Men is a revelation to sophisticated readers of every stripe, but especially to a certain kind of artist manqué on the brink of discovering that life is a more difficult business than he ever had reason to expect. . . . The subject matter is 'relatable, ' as my students like to say. Better still, though, is what you can learn about the craft of writing from this marvelous book. . . . Indeed, if you're looking for a funny, nonportentous Hemingway, then the early Powell is your man."--Blake Bailey "Slate"

"Ooh, ooh, ooh, I'm excited because I recently read a reissue of Anthony Powell's Afternoon Men, and just know that this is the right book for . . . one of my most frequent correspondents."--John Warner, aka the Biblioracle "Chicago Tribune, Printers Row"

"[A] still-too-little-acknowledged comic masterpiece."--James Wolcott "Vanity Fair"

"In its dead-pan comedy and its ultimate despair, Afternoon Men belongs with Cyril Connolly's The Rock Pool and Evelyn Waugh's A Handful of Dust. These books describe a part of England that no longer exists."--John Bowen "New York Times"

"Looking back at Powell's earlier novels, it is possible to see him discovering there how to use his razor-sharp satirical sense until it is purged of bitterness and extravagance."--Elizabeth Janeway "New York Times"

"Good entertainment. . . . Powell has a rich fund of irony and humour to support his extravagance and a humorous veracity of observation."-- "Times Literary Supplement"