Tales of Yesteryear

Front Cover
Houghton Mifflin Company, 1994 - Fiction - 230 pages
Spanning most of the decades of the twentieth century, this entertaining new collection of stories reveals the inner lives of America's upper classes in the polished, elegant prose that is Louis Auchincloss's signature. The intricate balance of power in a marriage, the artist's hunger for inspiration, the responsibilities of privileged youth on the eve of war - Auchincloss casts a knowing yet sympathetic eye on such dilemmas as they play themselves out in the salons, clubs, boarding schools, Park Avenue drawing rooms, and summer hideaways of the moneyed classes. In "The Man of Good Will", an aging Seth Middletown finds himself unable to save a beloved grandson torn apart by the sixties - a boy carefully protected from a family secret. Dick and Joyce Emmons, in "The Lotos Eaters", are surprised to find their new marriage subtly undermined by their own enchanted existence on a paradisal Florida island. A theatrical grande dame and an admiring young actor are "Priestess and Acolyte" - until they realize that the passions that rule them are irreconcilable. Evident on every page of the eight stories contained here are Auchincloss's superb ear for dialogue and his ability to suggest what lies beneath the surface of human relationships. Tales of Yesteryear will give Auchincloss's loyal readers cause to rejoice, and newcomers a delightful introduction to one of America's most distinguished authors.

From inside the book

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

About the author (1994)

Louis Auchincloss was born on September 27, 1917 in New York. He attended Groton College and Yale University and received a law degree from the University of Virginia. He served in the U.S. Navy for four years during World War ll. A practicing attorney, Auchincloss wrote his first novel, "The Indifferent Children," in 1947 under the pseudonym Andrew Lee, establishing a dual career as a successful lawyer and writer. Born into a socially prominent family, Auchincloss generally writes about society's upper class. Strong family connections, well-bred manners, and corporate boardrooms are subject matter in such novels as "Portrait in Brownstone" and "I Come As a Thief." He has also written several biographical and critical works on such notable writers as Edith Wharton and Henry James. Auchincloss was President of the Museum of the City of New York.

Bibliographic information