Abstract
In the second phase of his early career, Louis Auchincloss continued the examination of individuals in relation to an inimical environment. The theme was slightly modified, however. First, while in two of the preceding novels Auchincloss had chosen women as his main characters, during the years 1954–9 he focused on male main characters. To a certain degree, this change was only superficial: after all, Sybil Hilliard and Eloise Dilworth were to an extent androgynous characters, in whom the focus was on problems that transcended their gender. Turning to the male gender in The Great World and Timothy Colt (1956), Venus in Sparta (1958) and Pursuit of the Prodigal (1959) was therefore partly just the removal of a mask.
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Notes
Lewis Nichols, ‘Talk with Louis Auchincloss’, New York Times Book Review, 21 Oct 1956, p. 56.
James Stern, ‘Reflections in a Mirror’, New York Times Book Review, 16 May 1954, p. 4.
Cf. Rose Feld, ‘Chemistry of Temperament’, New York Herald Tribune Book Review, 6 June 1954, p. 4;
Charles J. Rolo, ‘Reflection in Mirrors’, Atlantic Monthly, CXCIV (July 1954) 84.
Auchincloss, The Great World and Timothy Colt (Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 1956) p. 26.
An excellent analysis of the moral and social dimension of the relationship between Colt and Knox is contained in Thomas L. Shaffer, ‘Henry Knox and the Moral Theology of Law Firms’, Washington and Lee Law Review, XXXVIII (1981) 347–75.
Auchincloss, Venus in Sparta (Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 1958) p. 28.
Auchincloss, Pursuit of the Prodigal (Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 1959) pp. 11–12.
Ibid., p. 12. This phrase was borrowed from the short story ‘The Interior Castle’ in Children Are Bored on Sundays (1953) by Jean Stafford, whose work Auchincloss knew and admired.
Lewis Nichols, ‘Talk with Louis Auchincloss’, New York Times Book Review, 21 Oct 1956, p. 56.
James Stern, ‘Reflections in a Mirror’, New York Times Book Review, 16 May 1954, p. 4.
Cf. Rose Feld, ‘Chemistry of Temperament’, New York Herald Tribune Book Review, 6 June 1954, p. 4;
Charles J. Rolo, ‘Reflection in Mirrors’, Atlantic Monthly, CXCIV (July 1954) 84.
Auchincloss, The Great World and Timothy Colt (Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 1956) p. 26.
An excellent analysis of the moral and social dimension of the relationship between Colt and Knox is contained in Thomas L. Shaffer, ‘Henry Knox and the Moral Theology of Law Firms’, Washington and Lee Law Review, XXXVIII (1981) 347–75.
Auchincloss, Venus in Sparta (Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 1958) p. 28.
Auchincloss, Pursuit of the Prodigal (Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 1959) pp. 11–12.
Ibid., p. 12. This phrase was borrowed from the short story ‘The Interior Castle’ in Children Are Bored on Sundays (1953) by Jean Stafford, whose work Auchincloss knew and admired.
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© 1991 Vincent Piket
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Piket, V. (1991). Studies of Minds under Pressure, 1954–9. In: Louis Auchincloss. New Directions in American Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-21366-5_5
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