Opus 21

BOOKS BY Philip Wylie

HEAVY LADEN · BABES AND SUCKLINGS · GLADIATOR
FOOTPRINT OF CINDERELLA · THE SAVAGE GENTLEMAN
FINNLEY WREN: HIS NOTIONS AND OPINIONS
AS THEY REVELED · AN APRIL AFTERNOON
THE BIG ONES GET AWAY · SALT WATER DAFFY
THE OTHER HORSEMAN · GENERATION OF VIPERS
CORPSES AT INDIAN STONES
FISH AND TIN FISH · NIGHT UNTO NIGHT
AN ESSAY ON MORALS · TOO MUCH OF EVERYTHING
CRUNCH AND DES: STORIES OF FLORIDA FISHING
OPUS 21

By Philip Wylie and William W. Muir
THE ARMY WAY

OPUS 21

Descriptive Music

FOR THE LOWER KINSEY EPOCH
OF THE ATOMIC AGE

a Concerto for a One-Man Band

SIX ARIAS FOR SOAP OPERAS

Fugues, Anthems, & Barrelhouse

BY

PHILIP WYLIE

RINEHART & COMPANY, INC.

New York and Toronto

First Printing, April 1949
Second Printing, June 1949
Third Printing, September 1949
Fourth Printing, November 1951
Fifth Printing, October 1953
Sixth Printing, September 1956
Seventh Printing, October 1959

COPYRIGHT, 1949, BY PHILIP WYLIE

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

TO MY WIFE
Ricky
AND MY DAUGHTER
Karen
I LOVINGLY DEDICATE
THIS ROMANCE

WARNING

Most of the characters in this book are unreal—and that isparticularly true of the author.... Few of the events recorded hereever took place—exactly.... Even the time is somewhat out of joint,so purists are advised not to bother to compare the meteorology withthe obituaries.... I never had (for instance) an elder sister namedGeorgianna, that I know of.... The difference between what is Real (orTruth) and what is Illusion (or Fiction) is left to such judgment asthe reader may own—just as it is in all the other experiences of life.

P.W.

PART ONE: Scherzo,     3

PART TWO: Tarantella,     79

PART THREE: An