praise for and Afternoon Men

“This is good entertainment, for Mr. Powell has a rich fund of irony and humour to support his extravagance and a hu- morous veracity of observation.” —Times Literary Supplement

“Mr. Powell writes cleverly: his dialogue strikes the high and often mad note of integrity that his characters demand.” —New York Times (Early City Edition)

“What makes Powell’s work so exciting is the ability to cre- ate truth, emotional, evocative, revealing . . . so that reading Powell is like living someone else’s life, inextricably entan- gled with one’s own.” —elizabeth janeway, New York Times

“Anthony Powell is our foremost comic writer.” —v. s. pritchett

“I would rather read Mr. Powel than any English novelist now writing.” —kingsley amis books by ANTHONY POWELL

A Dance to the Music of Time, First Movement (including the following three novels) A Question of Upbringing A Buyer’s Market A Dance to the Music of Time, Second Movement (including the following three novels) At Lady Molly’s Casanova’s Chinese Restaurant The Kindly Ones A Dance to the Music of Time, Third Movement (including the following three novels) The Valley of Bones The Soldier’s Art The Military Philosophers A Dance to the Music of Time, Fourth Movement (including the following three novels) Temporary Kings Hearing Secret Harmonies

other novels Afternoon Men Venusberg From a View to a Death Agents and Patients The Fisher King O, How the Wheel Becomes It! What’s Become of Waring

other works To Keep the Ball Rolling: The Memoirs of Anthony Powell Volume I: Infants of the Spring Volume II: Messengers of Day Volume III: Faces in My Time Volume IV: The Strangers Are All Gone John Aubrey and His Friends Brief Lives: And Other Selected Writings of John Aubrey Miscellaneous Verdicts: Writings on Writers Under Review: Further Writings on Writers, 1946–1990

plays The Garden God The Rest I’ll Whistle AFTERNOON MEN A Novel

by Anthony Powell

With a new Foreword by Ed Park

the university of chicago press The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637 Copyright © 1931 by Anthony Powell Foreword © 2015 by Ed Park All rights reserved Originally published in 1931 University of Chicago Press edition 2015 Printed in the United States of America

24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 1 2 3 4 5

isbn- 13: 978-0-226-18689-4 (paper) isbn- 13: 978-0-226-18692-4 (e- book) doi: 10.7208/ chicago/ 9780226186924.001.0001

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Powell, Anthony, 1905–2000, author. Afternoon men / by Anthony Powell ; with a new foreword by Ed Park. pages cm isbn 978-0-226-18689-4 (pbk. : alk. paper) — isbn 978-0-226-18692-4 (e-book) I. Title. PR6031.O74A73 2015 823′.912—dc23 2014015119

o This paper meets the requirements of ansi/niso z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper).