A Dance to the Music of Time is a 12-volume roman-fleuve by English writer Anthony Powell, published between 1951 and 1975 to critical acclaim. The story is an often comic examination of movements and manners, power and passivity in English political, cultural and military life in the mid-20th century. The books were inspired by the painting of the same name by French artist Nicolas Poussin.
The sequence is narrated by Nicholas Jenkins. At the beginning of the first volume, Jenkins falls into a reverie while watching snow descending on a coal brazier. This reminds him of "the ancient world—legionaries ... mountain altars ... centaurs ..." These classical projections introduce the account of his schooldays, which opens A Question of Upbringing .
Over the course of the following volumes, he recalls the people he met over the previous half a century and the events, often small, that reveal their characters. Jenkins's personality is unfolded slowly, and often elliptically, over the course of the novels. [1]
Bernard Stacey compiled a catalog and analysis of the poetic allusions in the novel. [2]
Time magazine included the novel in its list of the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to 2005. [3] The editors of Modern Library ranked the work as 43rd-greatest English-language novel of the 20th century. [4] The BBC ranked the novel 36th on its list of the 100 greatest British novels. [5] In 2019 Christopher de Bellaigue wrote in The Nation that A Dance to the Music of Time is "perhaps the supreme London novel of the 20th century, an examination of the human behavior that defines the upper echelons of this brash, resilient, often pitiless place." [6] Volumes 7-9, "The War Trilogy," -- The Valley of Bones , The Soldier's Art and The Military Philosophers —are the focus of Bernard Stacey's War Dance. [7]
Jenkins reflects on the Poussin painting in the first two pages of A Question of Upbringing:
These classical projections, and something from the fire, suddenly suggested Poussin's scene in which the Seasons, hand in hand and facing outward, tread in rhythm to the notes of the lyre that the winged and naked greybeard plays. The image of Time brought thoughts of mortality: of human beings, facing outward like the Seasons, moving hand in hand in intricate measure, stepping slowly, methodically sometimes a trifle awkwardly, in evolutions that take recognisable shape: or breaking into seemingly meaningless gyrations, while partners disappear only to reappear again, once more giving pattern to the spectacle: unable to control the melody, unable, perhaps, to control the steps of the dance.
Poussin's painting is housed at the Wallace Collection in London.
Published dates are those of the first UK publication. The narrative is rarely specific about the years in which events take place. Those below are suggested by Hilary Spurling in Invitation to the Dance – a Handbook to Anthony Powell's A Dance to the Music of Time. Dust jackets of the first editions were designed by James Broom-Lynne.
Order | Title | Story timeline | Published |
---|---|---|---|
1 | A Question of Upbringing | 1921–1924 | 1951 |
2 | A Buyer's Market | 1928 or 1929 | 1952 |
3 | The Acceptance World | 1931–1933 | 1955 |
4 | At Lady Molly's | 1934 | 1957 |
5 | Casanova's Chinese Restaurant | 1928 or 1929, 1933–1937 | 1960 |
6 | The Kindly Ones | 1914, 1938–1939 | 1962 |
7 | The Valley of Bones | 1940 | 1964 |
8 | The Soldier's Art | 1941 | 1966 |
9 | The Military Philosophers | 1942–1945 | 1968 |
10 | Books Do Furnish a Room | 1945–1947 | 1971 |
11 | Temporary Kings | 1958–1959 | 1973 |
12 | Hearing Secret Harmonies | 1968–1971 | 1975 |
Character | Details | Historical inspirations [12] |
---|---|---|
Nick Jenkins | Narrator | A cypher, everyman; Powell himself |
Isobel Tolland | One of the Tolland sisters, whom Jenkins later marries | Powell's wife Lady Violet Pakenham, third daughter of the 5th Earl of Longford. |
Kenneth Widmerpool | A mediocre student whose rise seems unstoppable. | Powell confirmed character inspired by Col. Denis Capel-Dunn, under whom he served in the Cabinet Office. Plus an element from Sir Reginald Manningham-Buller's schooldays. Soviet bloc connection may be intended to suggest Labour MP Denis Nowell Pritt. |
Charles Stringham | Schoolfriend of Nick's. A romantic. | Drawn from Hubert Duggan, whose glamorous mother married Lord Curzon, Viceroy of India. Not, as is often supposed, based on Powell's friend and fellow author Henry Green. |
Uncle Giles ("Captain Jenkins") | Nick's uncle, unreliable and usually untraceable. | |
Peter Templer | Raffish schoolfellow of Nick's | based on John Spencer, friend of the author's. |
Jean Templer | Peter Templer's sister; Nick's lover | |
Bob Duport | Jean Templer's first husband, businessman | |
Sillery | Manipulative Oxford don | Professor Sir Ernest Barker, and "Sligger" Urquhart. Not Sir Maurice Bowra as often suggested. |
Myra Erdleigh | Clairvoyante | |
Pamela Flitton | Femme Fatale Married Kenneth Widmerpool | based on Barbara Skelton, tempestuous sometime wife of Cyril Connolly. |
Mark Members | Promising poet | Peter Quennell, all-purpose literary personage, poet, and cultural historian. The name and the conference-going suggest Stephen Spender. |
Maclintick | Music critic | Peter Warlock. |
Audrey Maclintick | Married to and widow of Maclintik; later companion to Hugh Moreland | |
Edgar Bosworth Deacon | Painter and antique dealer | Combination of Mr Bailey, an alcoholic antiques dealer, and eccentric bookseller Christopher Millard. |
Gypsy Jones | anti-war friend of Mr. Deacon, Communist Party member | |
Dr Trelawney | Occultist | Aleister Crowley, self-styled Great Beast 666 |
The Field Marshal | Leader of desert warfare | Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein |
David Pennistone | Major assigned to liaison work with exiled Allied governments | Alexander Dru [13] |
X. Trapnel | Novelist and parodist | Julian Maclaren-Ross |
Russell Gwinnett | Biographer of X.Trapnel and academic. | |
Hugh Moreland | Composer | Constant Lambert |
St John Clarke | Passé author | John Galsworthy |
Max Pilgrim | Entertainer | in the manner of Noël Coward inspired by Douglas Byng |
Gibson Delavacquerie | Poet, public relations at Donners-Brebner | Laurence Cotteril, Poet/businessman Roy Fuller and also V.S.Naipaul, novelist from Trinidad |
Scorpio Murtlock | cult leader | |
Sir Magnus Donners | Magnate and government minister | partly drawn from Lord Beaverbrook |
J. G. Quiggin | Marxist writer | |
Erridge (Earl of Warminster) | Socialist peer; Jenkins's brother-in-law | The Earl of Longford, Powell's brother-in-law. Also Powell's friend George Orwell – lives as a tramp for a time, fights in Spanish Civil War, dies in his forties. |
The cycle was adapted by Frederick Bradnum as a Classic Serial on BBC Radio 4. In order to fit the material in, it was broadcast as four separate serials each based on a set of three books: the first three serials had six episodes, the last eight. The series were broadcast between 1979 and 1982. [14] The cycle was adapted again as a six-part Classic Serial on BBC Radio 4 from 6 April to 11 May 2008, directed by John Taylor. The cycle was adapted as a four-part TV series A Dance to the Music of Time by Anthony Powell and Hugh Whitemore for Channel 4 in 1997, directed by Christopher Morahan and Alvin Rakoff.[ citation needed ]
Character | 1997 TV series | 2008 radio drama | 1979 radio drama |
---|---|---|---|
Narrator | Corin Redgrave | Noel Johnson | |
Kenneth Widmerpool | Simon Russell Beale | Anthony Hoskyns Mark Heap | Brian Hewlett |
Nicholas Jenkins | James d'Arcy James Purefoy John Standing | Tom McHugh Alex Jennings | Gareth Johnson, Noel Johnson |
Charles Stringham | Luke de Lacey Paul Rhys | David Oakes Timothy Watson | Simon Cadell |
Peter Templer | Jonathan Cake | Jolyon Coy Ronan Vibert | Christopher Good |
Jean Templer | Claire Skinner | Emma Powell | Jane Asher |
Bob Duport | Nicholas Jones | ||
Orn | Dag Soerlie | Christopher Bidmead | |
Lindquist | Christian Rubeck | Eric Allan | |
Prof. Sillery | Alan Bennett | Paul Brooke | Preston Lockwood |
J.G. Quiggin | Adrian Scarborough | Julian Kerridge | Gordon Dulleu |
Gypsy Jones | Nicola Walker | Emma Powell | Susan Sloman |
Suzette Barbara Goring | Abigail Hollick | Josie Kidd | |
Erridge | Osmund Bullock | Jonathan Keeble | Alexander John |
Mona | Annabel Mullion | Abigail Cruttenden | Tamara Ustinov |
Myra Erdleigh | Gillian Barge | ||
Lady Molly Jeavons | Sarah Badel | Heather Tracy | Sian Phillips |
Ted Jeavons | Michael Williams | ||
Lady Isobel Tolland | Emma Fielding | Zoe Waites | Elizabeth Proud |
Anthony Dymoke Powell was an English novelist best known for his 12-volume work A Dance to the Music of Time, published between 1951 and 1975. It is on the list of longest novels in English.
Casanova's Chinese Restaurant is a novel by Anthony Powell (ISBN 0-09-947244-9). It forms the fifth volume of the twelve-volume sequence A Dance to the Music of Time, and was originally published in 1960. Many of the events of the novel were included in the television adaptation broadcast on the United Kingdom's Channel 4 in 1997, comprising part of the second of four episodes. There was also an earlier, more comprehensive, BBC Radio adaptation.
A Question of Upbringing is the opening novel in Anthony Powell's A Dance to the Music of Time, a twelve-volume cycle spanning much of the 20th century.
Susan Hilary Spurling CBE FRSL is a British writer, known for her work as a journalist and biographer.
A Buyer's Market is the second novel in Anthony Powell's twelve-novel series A Dance to the Music of Time. Published in 1952, it continues the story of narrator Nick Jenkins with his introduction into society after boarding school and university.
The Acceptance World is the third book of Anthony Powell's twelve novel sequence, A Dance to the Music of Time. Nick Jenkins continues the narration of his life and encounters with friends and acquaintances in London, between 1931 and 1933. In an analysis of Powell's absorbing interest in literary and visual art McSweeney highlights his use of a reference to Joseph Conrad in a virtuoso description of a private hotel in Bayswater.
At Lady Molly's is the fourth volume in Anthony Powell's twelve-novel sequence, A Dance to the Music of Time. Winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize 1957, At Lady Molly's is set in England of the mid-1930s and is essentially a comedy of manners, but in the background, the rise of Hitler and of worldwide Fascism are not ignored. The driving theme of At Lady Molly's is married life; marriages – as practised or mooted – among the narrator's acquaintances in bohemian society and the landed classes are pondered. Meanwhile, the career moves of various characters are advanced, checked or put on hold.
The Kindly Ones is a novel by Anthony Powell that forms the sixth in his twelve-volume sequence, A Dance to the Music of Time. The book's title relates to the placatory name given to the Furies of Greek mythology and chiefly addresses the period just before and after Britain enters World War II. The book is dedicated "For R.W.K.C.", the biographer and historian R. W. Ketton-Cremer.
The Military Philosophers is the ninth of Anthony Powell's twelve-novel sequence A Dance to the Music of Time. First published in 1968, it covers the latter part of Nicholas Jenkins' service in World War II. It is the last in Powell's war trilogy, and Jenkins is assigned to a War Office Section with the Allies of World War II.
The Valley of Bones is the seventh novel in Anthony Powell's twelve-volume series A Dance to the Music of Time. Published in 1964, it is the first of the war trilogy.
The Soldier's Art is the eighth novel in Anthony Powell's twelve-volume masterpiece A Dance to the Music of Time, and the second in the war trilogy. The title is from the poem by Robert Browning, Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came, fifth line, “think first, fight afterwards – the soldier’s art.”
Books Do Furnish a Room is a novel by Anthony Powell, the tenth in the twelve-novel sequence A Dance to the Music of Time. It was first published in 1971 and, like the other volumes, remains in print.
Temporary Kings is a novel by Anthony Powell, the penultimate in his twelve-volume novel, A Dance to the Music of Time. It was published in 1973 by Heinemann and remains in print as does the rest of the sequence. It takes place at a fictional 1958 symposium in Venice.
Hearing Secret Harmonies is the final novel in Anthony Powell's twelve-volume series, A Dance to the Music of Time. It was published in 1975, twenty-four years after the first book, A Question of Upbringing, appeared in 1951. No other novel series is based on the formal pictorial principles as A Dance to the Music of Time. The book ends with a torrential passage from The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton.
Kenneth Widmerpool is a fictional character in Anthony Powell's novel sequence A Dance to the Music of Time, a 12-volume account of upper-class and bohemian life in Britain between 1920 and 1970. Regarded by critics as one of the more memorable characters of 20th century fiction, Widmerpool is the antithesis of the sequence's narrator-hero Nicholas Jenkins. Initially presented as a comic, even pathetic figure, he becomes increasingly formidable, powerful and ultimately sinister as the novels progress. He is successful in business, in the army and in politics, and is awarded a life peerage. His only sphere of failure is his relationships with women, exemplified by his disastrous marriage to Pamela Flitton. The sequence ends with Widmerpool's downfall and death, in circumstances arising from his involvement with a New Age-type cult.
From a View to a Death is the third novel by the English writer Anthony Powell. It combines comedy of manners with Powell’s usual interest in the subtleties of British 20th-century society in a bitterly funny narrative. Here, Powell begins to write in the mode that he would perfect in A Dance to the Music of Time.
Adrian Maurice Daintrey, RWA (1902–1988) was a British portrait and landscape painter.
King Cophetua and the Beggar Maid is an 1884 painting by the Pre-Raphaelite artist Edward Burne-Jones. The painting illustrates the story of 'The King and the Beggar-maid", which tells the legend of the prince Cophetua who fell in love at first sight with the beggar Penelophon. The tale was familiar to Burne-Jones through an Elizabethan ballad published in Bishop Thomas Percy's 1765 Reliques of Ancient English Poetry and the sixteen-line poem The Beggar Maid by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.
A Dance to the Music of Time is a painting by Nicolas Poussin in the Wallace Collection in London. It was painted between c. 1634 and 1636 as a commission for Giulio Rospigliosi, who according to Gian Pietro Bellori dictated its detailed iconography. The identity of the figures remains uncertain, with differing accounts.
A Dance to the Music of Time is a British four-part television drama series based on the book series of the same name by Anthony Powell. The series was also written by Anthony Powell with Hugh Whitemore as co-writer. The series was produced by Table Top Productions and directed by Christopher Morahan and Alvin Rakoff. It was first broadcast on Channel 4 on 9 October 1997 over four consecutive weeks.