Mortal Coils is a collection of five short fictional pieces written by Aldous Huxley, published in 1921. The book consists of three short stories, a novelette and a play.
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.
Content[edit]
- "The Gioconda Smile", novelette:
- is a mixture of social satire and murder story,[1] which Huxley later adapted into a film called A Woman's Vengeance (1948).[2][3]
- "Permutations Among the Nightingales", play:
- is a play concerning the amorous problems encountered by various patrons of a hotel.
- "The Tillotson Banquet":
- tells of an old artist who was thought to be dead, and is "rediscovered"; a not entirely successful 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 told of a nun falling in love. The story mocks the writer's process, a concept Huxley used in his novel Crome Yellow.
Adaptations[edit]
Based on novelette "The Gioconda Smile":
- A Woman's Vengeance (1948), film directed by Zoltan Korda
- Mortal Coils: Play (1948), play by Aldous Huxley
- Das Lächeln der Gioconda (1958), TV movie directed by Michael Kehlmann
- The Gioconda Smile (1963), TV movie directed by Patrick Barton
- Das Lächeln der Gioconda (1966), TV movie directed by Ilo von Jankó
- Mona Lisan hymy (1966), TV movie directed by Jukka Sipilä
- Úsmev Mony Lízy (1968), TV movie directed by Bedřich Kramosil
Based on play Mortal Coils: Play:
- Das Lächeln der Gioconda (1953), TV movie directed by Werner Völger
- Il sorriso della Gioconda (1969), TV movie directed by Enrico Colosimo
References[edit]
- ^ "Books: Antic Antiques". Time.com. 21 April 1958. Archived from the original on January 31, 2011. Retrieved 9 June 2018.
- ^ "A Woman's Vengeance – News – The Harvard Crimson". Thecrimson.com. Retrieved 9 June 2018.
- ^ "Huxley's acid reign". Theage.com.au. 3 July 2002. Retrieved 9 June 2018.
External links[edit]
- Mortal Coils at Project Gutenberg
- Aldous Huxley at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- Aldous Huxley at IMDb
