Synopses & Reviews
To earn the reputation of a literary giant within the generation of Waugh, Orwell, and Greene is no mean feat. To do so with the grace and genius that characterized Anthony Powell-whose twelve-volume
A Dance to the Music of Time is possibly the only English-language work to match the majestic scope of Proust's
Remembrance of Things Past-is nothing short of spectacular. Yet Powell himself remains absent from his writing; he was, said the
New York Times, "a writer of mordant succinctness who rewards the reader while revealing little of himself."
Powell did eventually reveal himself in four volumes of memoirs published between 1976 and 1982 with the titles of Infants of the Spring, Messengers of Day, Faces in My Time, and The Strangers All Are Gone. This edition of Anthony Powell's memoirs an abridged and revised version of those volumes, a version that has never before been published in the United States. The result is not only a fascinating view of Powell as a man and an author but also a unique history of British literary society and the social elite Powell lampooned and moved within from the 1920s through the 1980s. From Eton and Oxford to his life as a novelist and critic, Powell observes all-the obscenity trial sparked by Lady Chatterley's Lover; Shirley Temple's libel suit after Graham Greene reviewed Wee Willie Winkie "with even more than his usual verve"-and paints vivid portraits of Kingsley Amis, V.S. Naipaul, T.S. Eliot, Virginia Woolf, and countless others. Most importantly, Powell's lively memoirs banish all thought of the man as a relic of the British gentry. He was a modernist, a Tory, and more than a little interested in genealogy and peerage, but a man who, according to Ferdinand Mount, "miraculously knew what life was like."
Review
"Powell wrote four volumes of memoirs between 1976 and 1982: these four books were abridged and revised into one volume, To Keep the Ball Rolling, first published in Britain in 1983, but appearing in the United States for the first time now. The volume itself is sturdy and attractive, with 23 photographs, and a short foreword by way of an appreciation by Ferdinand Mount. Powell, of course best known for his 12-volume novel sequence Dance to the Music of Time, writes with a delicious clarity and light wit that might well be unmatched in English prose. To the luxurious prose should be added the delight that Powell knew everybody. Along with reflections on events of the times, great and small (the world wars, and the libel suit brought on behalf of nine year old Shirley Temple against Graham Greene) are portraits of T.S. Eliot, James Thurber, George Orwell, Evelyn Waugh, Edith Sitwell, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Henry Green (who was a friend of Powell as a child at school), and many, many others. As a pure delight in itself, and as a window into an important and fascinating time in English letters, this book can hardly be praised enough." Reviewed by Andrew Witmer, Virginia Quarterly Review (Copyright 2006 Virginia Quarterly Review)
Review
"Powell was indeed a literary giant, and eminently deserving of the praise that was lavished on him." The Wall Street Journal
Review
"A master of wit, paradox, and social delineation." The New York Times
Review
"[Powell was] more fun than Proust, and at least as true to human nature." John Perry, Salon
Synopsis
To earn the reputation of a literary giant within the generation of Waugh, Orwell, and Greene is no mean feat. To do so with the grace and genius that characterized Anthony Powellwhose twelve-volume
A Dance to the Music of Time is possibly the only English-language work to match the majestic scope of Proust's
Remembrance of Things Pastis nothing short of spectacular. Yet Powell himself remains absent from his writing; he was, said the
New York Times, "a writer of mordant succinctness who rewards the reader while revealing little of himself."
Powell did eventually reveal himself in four volumes of memoirs, published between 1976 and 1982. This edition of Anthony Powell's Memoirs is an abridged and revised version of those volumes, a version that has never before been published in this form in the United States. The result is not only a fascinating view of Powell as a man and an author but also a unique history of British literary society and the social elite Powell lampooned and moved within from the twenties through the eighties. From Eton and Oxford to his life as a novelist and critic, Powell observes allthe obscenity trial sparked by Lady Chatterley's Lover; Shirley Temple's libel suit after Graham Greene reviewed Wee Willie Winkie "with even more than his usual verve"and paints vivid portraits of Kingsley Amis, V.S. Naipaul, T.S. Eliot, Virginia Woolf, and countless others. Most importantly, Powell's lively memoirs banish all thought of the man as a relic of the British gentry. He was a modernist, a Tory, and more than a little interested in genealogy and peerage, but a man who, according to Ferdinand Mount, "miraculously knew what life was like."
About the Author
Anthony Powell (1905-2000) was born in London and educated at Eton and Balliol College, Oxford. He worked for a London publisher from 1927 to 1935 and as a film scriptwriter from 1935 to 1936. He also served as a liaison officer for the Intelligence Corps during World War II. The literary editor of Punch from 1952 to 1958, Powell also wrote reviews and literary columns for many newspapers and periodicals. He became an Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1997 and was named a Commander of the British Empire in 1956 and, after refusing a knighthood in 1973, a Companion of Honor in 1988. His published works include Afternoon Men (1931), From a View to a Death (1933), What's Become of Waring (1939), and his twelve-volume masterpiece A Dance to the Music of Time, the latter available from the University of Chicago Press.
Table of Contents
Foreword by Ferdinand Mount
Part One- Infants of the Spring
Part Two- Messengers of Day
Part Three- Faces in My Time
Part Four- The Strangers All Are Gone