Afternoon Men

Anthony Powell's first, highly acclaimed novel maps the decline and fall of a characteristically seedy section of London society, and confirms the author's reputation as one of the great satirists of the twentieth century.

Afternoon Men follows the trivial encounters and idle pastimes of the social set through William Atwater. With a glee in upending pretense that rivals the works of Max Beerbohm and Evelyn Waugh, Powell attacks artistic pretension, aristocratic jadedness, and the dark side of the glamorous life.

Afternoon Men provides an important perspective on the development of one of this century's great satirists.