The Rich and Famous get Nowhere

kw: book reviews, fiction, short stories, high society

In The Young Apollo and Other Stories Louis Auchincloss recalls New York "high society" of a century ago, evoking that unreality for a generation that thrives on "virtual anything." From the mistakenly noble motives of rich young men who find that bleeding blue blood kills you as quick as any other kind, to their wives or widows exercising their thwarted intelligence in rounds of house parties; from the robber barons to the noveau riche; all are presented in their own pretentious late-Victorian language.

Perhaps an older, more credulous generation finds such stories gratifying; I find them sad. Is that what the author intended? Perhaps. I cannot presume to read the heart of one who began publishing about the time I was born. Suffice it that I read of person after person who may have accomplished much...or may not have: All are at best grimly satisfied, but most are simply lost within a formerly familiar environment. How credible are the images thus presented? I don't have an easy way to determine.

Two stories in particular open a door rather than close any: Pandora's Box and Her Better Half. In the former, a man learns how he must play the game, and determines to play it much better than his fellow suppose. In the latter, a woman learns the same lesson. With a modicum of thought, both stories have a post-text: Watch Out World, Here I COME! I am a junkie for stories of transformation.