Mortal Coils
2558881
221523062
2008-06-24T21:45:49Z
Pegship
355698
stub sort
[[Image:Mortalcoilsfasj.jpg|right|thumb]]'''''Mortal Coils''''' is a collection of five short fictional pieces written by [[Aldous Huxley]] in [[1922]].
The title uses a phrase from [[Hamlet]], Act 3, Scene 1:
: ... To die, to sleep,
:To sleep, perchance to dream; aye, there's the rub,
:For in that sleep of death, what dreams may come,
:When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
:Must give us pause ...
The stories all concern themselves with some sort of trouble, normally of an amorous nature, and often ending with disappointment.
==The stories==
*The first story, ''The Gioconda Smile'', involves a short murder story.
*Next is ''Permutations Among the Nightingales'', a play concerning the amorous problems various patrons of a certain establishment encounter.
*''The Tillotson Banquet'' tells of an old artist who was thought to be dead, and is "rediscovered", and an honorary dinner is organised for him.
*''Green Tunnels'' is about the boredom of a young girl on holiday with her family. She develops a romantic fantasy, and is ultimately disillusioned.
*''Nuns at Luncheon'' is a second hand story being told of a nun falling in love. The story mocks the writer's process, a concept [[Aldous Huxley|Huxley]] used in his ''[[Crome Yellow]]''.
{{Huxley}}
[[Category:1922 books]]
[[Category:Short story collections by Aldous Huxley]]
{{story-collection-stub}}