Books Do Furnish a Room

Last updated
Books Do Furnish a Room
BooksDoFurnishARoom.jpg
First edition cover
Author Anthony Powell
Cover artist James Broom-Lynne
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Series A Dance to the Music of Time
Publisher Heinemann
Publication date
1971
Media typePrint (hardback and paperback)
ISBN 0-316-71544-1 (HB)
Preceded by The Military Philosophers  
Followed by Temporary Kings  

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.

Synopsis

The book conveys the atmosphere of post-war austerity as the characters that have survived attempt to resume their former life after the interruption of the conflict. Nicholas Birns has observed, “the novel’s title connotes a provisional postwar recovery.” [1]

It deals in particular with the chaotic career of X. Trapnel as a writer and the brief life of the new magazine Fission. This is sponsored by Rosie Manasch and published by the left-wing firm of Quiggin and Craggs (the latter now knighted and married to Gipsy Jones). Also working for the firm is Ada Leintwardine, who Nick Jenkins first meets while she is acting as temporary secretary to Sillery, and to whom Quiggin proposes marriage after the firm is taken over at the end of the novel. Associated with the magazine are Books-do-furnish-a-room Bagshaw, the general editor; Nick, who acts as reviews editor; and Kenneth Widmerpool, now a Labour MP, writing on politics and economics.

As always, the story is narrated by Nick Jenkins, who is currently researching a book on Robert Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy , quotations from which are frequently applied by way of commentary to the different situations he encounters in the novel. “Given the emphasis on literature in Books Do Furnish A Room, we see more of Nicholas Jenkins as a writer than ever before.” [2] During its course Nick and his Tolland relations attend the funeral after Erridge's early death; it is also attended by Widmerpool and his wife Pamela, who typically manages to disrupt the ceremony and the family gathering afterwards. Towards the end of the novel, she leaves Widmerpool to live in squalor with Trapnel for awhile, finally returning to Widmerpool after scattering the manuscript of Trapnel's new novel into the canal for him to discover on returning from an evening's drinking.

The New York Times reviewer, Raymond A. Sokolov, noted that Books Do Furnish a Room includes a delicious collection of made-up book titles. [3]

Books Do Furnish a Room is dedicated to editor and publisher, Rupert Hart-Davis. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anthony Powell</span> English novelist (1905–2000)

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.

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.


A fictional book is a text created specifically for a work in an imaginary narrative that is referred to, depicted, or excerpted in a story, book, film, or other fictional work, and which exists only in one or more fictional works. A fictional book may be created to add realism or depth to a larger fictional work. For example, George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four has excerpts from a book by Emmanuel Goldstein entitled The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism which provides background on concepts explored in the novel.

<i>The Line of Beauty</i> 2004 Man Booker Prize-winning novel by Alan Hollinghurst

The Line of Beauty is a 2004 Man Booker Prize-winning novel by Alan Hollinghurst.

<i>A Question of Upbringing</i> Book by Anthony Powell

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.

<i>A Buyers Market</i>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lady Violet Powell</span>

Lady Violet Georgiana Powell was a British writer and critic. Her husband was the author Anthony Powell.

<i>The Acceptance World</i>

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.

<i>At Lady Mollys</i>

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.

<i>The Kindly Ones</i> (Powell novel) Novel by Anthony Powell

The Kindly Ones (1962) 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.

<i>The Valley of Bones</i>

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.

<i>The Soldiers Art</i> Eighth novel in Anthony Powells twelve-volume A Dance to the Music of Time,

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.

<i>Temporary Kings</i> Novel by Anthony Powell

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.

<i>Hearing Secret Harmonies</i> The final novel in Anthony Powells twelve-volume A Dance to the Music of Time

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kenneth Widmerpool</span> Fictional character in Anthony Powells novel sequence A Dance to the Music of Time

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.

<i>Whats Become of Waring</i>

What's Become of Waring is the fifth novel by the English writer Anthony Powell. It is his final novel of the 1930s, and the only one not published by Powell's first employer and publisher, Duckworth. Published in 1939, Powell's book was overshadowed by international events, limiting sales. Nonetheless, it marks a significant step in Powell's development, anticipating his masterpiece, A Dance to the Music of Time, via the introduction of the self-effacing first-person narrator. The title of the book is also the first line of the poem Waring by Robert Browning.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shepherd Market</span>

Shepherd Market is a small business-lined precinct featuring two small squares, one with a northern recess in Mayfair, in the West End of London, built up between 1735 and 1746 by Edward Shepherd on the open ground then used for the annual fair from which Mayfair derives; it does so with the east end of Shepherd Street which is also broad-pavemented. It is between Piccadilly and Curzon Street and has a village-like atmosphere. It was associated with upmarket prostitutes from its building up until at least the 1980s. In the 1920s, it hosted leading writers and artists such as Anthony Powell, Michael Arlen and Sophie Fedorovitch. Jeffrey Archer met Monica Coghlan here in the 1980s.

<i>King Cophetua and the Beggar Maid</i> (painting) Painting by Edward Burne-Jones

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 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 the 9 October 1997 over four consecutive weeks.

Nicholas Birns is a scholar of literature, including fantasy and Australian literature. As a Tolkien scholar he has written on a variety of topics including "The Scouring of the Shire" and Tolkien's biblical sources. His analysis of the writings of Anthony Powell and Roberto Bolaño has been admired by scholars.

References

  1. Birns, Nicholas.(2004). Understanding Anthony Powell, University of South Carolina Press, 2004, p.205.
  2. Birns, Nicholas.(2004). Understanding Anthony Powell, University of South Carolina Press, 2004, p.211.
  3. Sokolov, Raymond A. Books Do Furnish a Room. New York Times (Oct 10 1971): 1.
  4. Jay, Mike. (2013) "Who Were the Dedicatees of Powell’s Works?" The Anthony Powell Society Newsletter.50 (spring): 9-10.