"Their love broke all the rules"
I've previously reviewed Stanley Kauffmann's The Tightrope, and was happy to find a nice vintage copy from Popular Library of A New Desire (previously published as A Change of Climate). Worldly people caught in a charming love affair, it takes place in Miami, before returning to New York.
His books are introspective and character driven. He writes of the business world and the modern social world (of the 1950's, of course) ~ the climate in this case is not only geographical, but moral.
He quotes Shaw in the preface, "For what is hope? A form of moral responsibility."
Alex Harris is an ex-professor who is looking for a change of career. He has been having an affair with married socialite Amy Harris, whose husband neglects her. She invites Alex to Miami to meet with a business acquaintance who needs a man in his watch company. Kauffmann has a style with the social scene of the fifties and the Miami set is entertaining. Think Mad Men in the sun.
Amidst cocktail parties by the pool and casual dinners in the Zephyr room, Alex meets his boss's petulant daughter. Young and spoiled, they strike up an odd friendship that, as Alex learns about the watch business, continues back in New York. His relationship with the married Amy slows and he begins to fall in love with Linda France, which they have to keep hidden from his new boss.
It seems a simple story but Kauffmann take his time dealing with the relationship, so we really get to know the motivations and desires of both Alex and Linda. The scene is well described, with the continual drinks and cigarettes at all hours of the day. It's Alex's journey we follow as he seeks his answers. There is a side story of business indiscretions that must be resolved, and a deep understanding of Alex at his middle age questioning the meaning and direction of his life, including a few pages deliberating Nietzsche and ideas of the humanists.
It's a smart and entertaining book about the changes in a man's life. I wouldn't hesitate to read another of Stanley Kauffmann's novels. The closest writing I can think of in comparison is John Irving.
Kauffman was a major film critic for The New Republic and even, as an acquisitions editor at Ballantine, the one who acquired Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury! He taught at the Yale School of Drama and died in October of 2013, at the age of 97.
Very enjoyable and well recommended for those enjoy spending time in the 1950's.
1954 / Paperback / 224 pages
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