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A Dance to the Music of Time: Fourth…
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A Dance to the Music of Time: Fourth Movement (3 Vols in 1) (edition 1976)

by Anthony Powell

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8691524,612 (4.2)45
Anthony Powell's brilliant twelve novel sequence chronicles the lives of over three hundred characters, and is a unique evocation of life in twentieth-century England. It is unrivalled for its scope, its humour and the enormous pleasure it has given to generations. Volume 4 contains the last three novels in the sequence: Books do Furnish a Room; Temporary Kings; Hearing Secret Harmonies.… (more)
Member:332
Title:A Dance to the Music of Time: Fourth Movement (3 Vols in 1)
Authors:Anthony Powell
Info:Little Brown & Co (T) (1976), Edition: 1st, Hardcover, 272 pages
Collections:Your library
Rating:*****
Tags:alibris, philadelphia, books do furnish a room, temporary kings, hearing secret harmonies, Books and TK in September 2012, October 2012, 20th c., 1970s

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A Dance to the Music of Time: Fourth Movement, Winter by Anthony Powell

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"By many deeds of shame / We learn that love grows cold", as the hymn writer put it.

I don't entirely know what happened here, but it's a crying shame. Anthony Powell commenced his mammoth 12-book series in 1950, uncertain at the time exactly how many volumes it would run, but determined to capture society's change and the ravages of Time. The first three volumes are youthful works, not always great literature but consistently engaging. Titles four through nine increase in power as our protagonists go from young well-heeled flappers in their 20s to middle-aged survivors of an horrific War. Here, we're on the other side and, as the author nears seventy, he seems unsure of his intentions.

Is it that Powell killed off or retired so many of our beloved characters that his new ones would always seem inferior by comparison? That the decision to give over much of books ten and eleven to the post-war literary world renders them even more niche, even more historically antiquated than the volumes set in uproarious pre-war England? That the author almost entirely dispenses with historical details, meaning that we no longer "feel" like we are in any particular time period? Perhaps we are at fault for being mundane: where once the deliberate emptiness of our protagonist Nick and his wife Isobel was a charming quirk of the series, allowing us to see the other characters through neutral eyes, we are now frustrated by the occasional mention to their child or children (we're never sure even how many they have, let alone what their names are) and the obscure explanation of why we should care about Isobel's (literally and figuratively) entitled family. Perhaps the beautifully-composed gargoyle named Widmerpool so overwhelms the volumes that Powell's confounding decision to leave him mostly in shadow even as he commits extraordinary acts leaves us grasping at the edges of something resembling a plot. (The lack of plot wouldn't be a problem if it were deliberate, but the lack of historical ambience makes me think we are supposed to be focused on the narrative.) Perhaps twelve novels is just too long for a book where most characters are revealed to be symbols rather than people. The return of a much-loved figure from the past is lessened when we realise that they stand for one of Powell's bugbears, be it sexualised women or people who are - in the author's eyes - excessively political (whether left- or right-wing).

Reluctant as I am to ever suggest that an aging author might be past their peak, I might instead posit that the structure of the sequence ultimately became its own worst enemy. The narrative voice compelling but always temporally unfixed - was Jenkins telling this narrative as we went along, or was this entirely retrospective? The answer seemed to be "whichever Powell needed in the moment", leaving us with a much less-engaging tone than that of Proust, whose great work is often compared to this one, and where we are constantly enjoying the battle between the older narrator's knowledge and his younger self's naivete. Additionally, in terms of structural flaws, the eternal recurrences of certain characters has robbed them of their power. If Nick had met Le Bas or Mrs Erdleigh merely once after their initial experience, or perhaps twice, we would have felt great power. Instead, the author seems to indicate - if unintentionally - that his world is one of ever decreasing circles, and reappearances become cause for a mere raised eyebrow rather than dropping one's lorgnette and spilling the Ovaltine.

The ten-year gap between each of the books in this volume does little to help, either. One might have assumed Powell was working towards a reflection on age but instead he seems almost put out by the passage of time. Characters who must be ancient are forced to survive until late in the piece because he needs them for his denouement, and the final volume leaves us with no grand reflections on age except perhaps an increased willingness on Nick Jenkins' part to pass judgment on young people he perceives as overly sexualised. (Or, perhaps more accurately, young people, especially women, who show it in their bearing and dress; after all, he can hardly complain about the mere act.) Perhaps the only positive thing that emerges from these volumes - and it may be the only time anyone can call her "positive" - is the character of Pamela Flitton, who demands the reader's attention at every turn, and whose dark psychology creates the perfect opponent to Widermpool's sickly, self-absorbed nature.

And no reviewer could be honest if they not dismiss the final volume, Hearing Secret Harmonies, almost entirely. Let's abandon any pretence at the existing characters and storyline, and instead allow the elderly writer to discourse at length about cult leaders and hippies and other things young people apparently do. Oh, sure, there's some further expansion on the character of X. Trapnel, the beatnik author who was an hilarious caricature in Books Do Furnish a Room but who - as Powell mega-fan [a:Barbara Pym|104015|Barbara Pym|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1231080935p2/104015.jpg] believed - came to unreasonably overwhelm the later novels in the series. What was Powell doing with the final volume? Why did he think this was a fitting way to end a landmark series that had run for three decades of his life? Hilary Spurling's biography of Powell tactfully avoids the question, so perhaps I will never know.

The biggest disappointment for me, however, is that Powell toys in these volumes with a narrative technique that one feels could have been the defining feature of these books - perhaps even made the series into great literature, rather than an effete and highbrow read for those of us who enjoy such things, - namely the question of second- and third-hand narrative. It does appear on occasion in the early volumes, but most of the time Nick is present at major occurrences even when it seems completely illogical. Take Books Do Furnish a Room in which he witnesses most every major incident in the love triangle of Widmerpool-Pamela-Trapnel, no matter how unlikely. By the middle book, Temporary Kings, Powell introduces a concept of other characters telling Nick what they witnessed, sometimes even multiple characters often different views, or reporting stories they heard from someone else. He takes up this mantle in a more determined manner in Hearing Secret Harmonies. Widmerpool, aka the Frog Footman, has had an astonishing decade since the previous book, and takes place in a subsequent series of remarkable events, yet he himself is kept either "offscreen" or across a crowded room for the bulk of the volume. Instead, his rise, fall, re-rise, and re-fall are chronicled to us primarily by a series of messengers. It's an interesting technique, to be sure, but it feels underutilised - perhaps even clumsy - in the hands of an author past his prime, and rather disappointing in its belated introduction to the cycle.

I am reminded again of a sagacious New York Times review from 1973 which notes that, despite the series still being enjoyable for longtime fans, "one goes on reading the Dance, feeling rather like a guest enjoying himself at a party after the band has left and the hosts have gone".

Well, quite. ( )
  therebelprince | Oct 24, 2023 |
I loved the wrap up to this series. Outrageous characters and events keep on coming. X Trapnel in Books Do Furnish a Room, Russell Gwinett in Temporary Kings and Scorpio Murtlock in Hearing Secret Harmonies. Events become increasingly unusual, and these 3 books are far more fun. The wrap up of the Widmerpool story in pretty incredible, and the set pieces are fantastic. It does become somewhat confusing who is with who by the end as there has been so much shifting around of partners. I can see this series will reward re-reading. ( )
  AlisonSakai | Aug 28, 2022 |
How nice that life goes on after 40 ( )
  farrhon | Jan 25, 2021 |
Books Do Furnish a Room:
Unexpected deaths
inevitable conquests
manuscripts destroyed.

Temporary Kings:
Ken's laundry is aired
perversions, dirty dealings
Pam stalks love and death.

Hearing Secret Harmonies:
Kenneth joins the cult
at last, a race he can win
through sheer force of will. ( )
  Eggpants | Jun 25, 2020 |
(26) The last of this collection of novellas, I guess you could say. The 4th 'movement' of the Dance for me was the weakest link. I was beginning to enjoy them more in the second and third movement as I got used to the author's verbose style full of allusions and complex sentences. I actually expected this one to be the best as I felt it would take an ironic and profound look at growing old and the the 'winter' of life. Perhaps the novels did just that, but if they did it was lost on me with all the nonsense about the silly cult. Widmerpool's whole ending was unlikely given the character we thought we knew and it just felt wrong and forced. The only novella of the three I enjoyed some was 'Temporary Kings,' at the literary conference in Venice.

I felt the loss of the old friends Stringham and Templar, that had been easily replaced by the military friends. Trapnel, Gwinnett, and the weird cult boy never interested me. It also was disappointing that Powell did not focus much on the Tolland nieces and nephews (never mind Isobel and Nick's children!) As your life moves on, you become very involved in the younger generation through your children, right? I understand Nick's role as a foil, but this complete neglect of his own children's lives was not believable. Also, the weird almost lack of grief when people died. So matter of fact - after awhile, I felt as if this played false as well. In general, due to things feeling incongruous, eventually the book began to feel like what it was - long and ponderous.

I am glad I read the whole collection given my Anglophile literary tastes. My reading life would have been incomplete without it, but on the whole it was a bit tedious. Poor Widmerpool - he deserved a better ending. Not a sympathetic one, mind you - just better. ( )
  jhowell | May 31, 2020 |
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Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Powell, Anthonyprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Trevor, WilliamIntroductionsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Calzada, JavierTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Vance, SimonNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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For Rupert
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Reverting to the University at forty, one immediately recaptured all the crushing melancholy of the undergraduate condition.
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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
Disambiguation notice
Omnibus volume of:

10 -- Books Do Furnish a Room;
11 -- Temporary Kings; and
12 -- Hearing Secret Harmonies.

NOTE: The Simon Vance audiobook, combined here, is unabridged.
Omnibus edition of:

10. Books do furnish a room (1971)
11. Temporary kings (1973)
12. Hearing secret harmonies (1975)
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Anthony Powell's brilliant twelve novel sequence chronicles the lives of over three hundred characters, and is a unique evocation of life in twentieth-century England. It is unrivalled for its scope, its humour and the enormous pleasure it has given to generations. Volume 4 contains the last three novels in the sequence: Books do Furnish a Room; Temporary Kings; Hearing Secret Harmonies.

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