universe' comprises a chain of dinner parties ) linked by

various pseudo-intrigues and popu- lated exclusively, apart from a Zen Buddhist and a pop singer in white leather inserted with )

British and Franco-British aristocrats on the one hand, and psychotic Americans on the other. It is in her account of America and Americans that the sweep of the author's invention is at its

boldest. Strong archaic elements—archaic, that )

is to say, in terms of our own world—are com-

bined with visions of a putative future that make ) Brave New World read like a piece of grim documentary realism. Thus the slogan of 'get ) rich quick' and the pronunciation of 'Europe' as 'Yurrup' recall, if anything, our own 1920s— another pleasing touch of period fantasy puts ) the nouns 'motor' and 'luncheon-time' into British mouths—while the American population ) of Paris, so far from being the heterogeneous crowd of students, bums, tourists, expatriates,

academics, journalists and so on that we our- selves know, has become a single group typified

by the possession of enormous 'motors' and, by a ) daring inversion, an obsessive concern not to lose its American accent. At home in the. United ) States the position is far graver, far more Poe- like in its apocalyptic delirium or, rather, more like Ray Bradbury, whose Fahrenheit 451 Miss ) Mitford has evidently read with profit. In this nightmare vision, every American is 'mad and ill and frightened . . . dreadfully fidgety . . . dreadfully unhappy.' And yet so cunningly diversified is this picture that even at this point, at this peak of fanciful elaboration, archaic ) ) ) ) ) 944 pp Maps 36s net

AIADOLIS

IllUXLEY

Collected Essays

JOHN WAIN: 'Art, aesthetics, reli- gion, music, world economic problems, this and that science, literature, topography, he wel- comes them all with the same blandness; he is ready to let them talk, always a good listener, wide open to new ideas.'

416 pp 30s net

The Autobiography of MARK

TWAIN

Up to expectations?

'Yes, very much. The expectation was so enormous.'

STEPHEN POTTER

'Revealing, tender, funny or bitter —a splendid book to keep beside you and dip into at random.'

MARGARET LANE

PETER FORSTER : 'Here's the real Tom Sawyer—in Mark Twain's life. . . . The most endearing American author of them all.'

416 pp 16 pp plates 30s net

A".AreCIll AVM & W