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Tuesday, November 13, 2018

Anthony Powell's A Dance to the Music of Time

Anthony Powell's A Dance to the Music of Time


I'm starting the third novel in Powell's twelve part series of novels. Years ago I set out to read, and finish, Marcel Proust's mega Remembrance of Things Past. I managed to slog through half of it - promising myself to finish reading it "soon".


I put off reading Anthony Powell's mega-Dance since it had been unfavorably compared to Proust's great work and I hadn't "finished" Proust. I must say that I am enjoying Powell's Dance very much - it's quite funny. In preparation for my having fun reading Powell I enjoyed the following treats: Edward St. Aubyn's The Patrick Melrose Novels (both the printed and cable-TV versions), the BBC adaptation of Powell's Dance, and Downton Abby - my wife finally persuaded me - to my delight - to watch it along with The Durrells in Corfu (another TV delight). 

I guess I'm a sucker for multipart things. Lawrence Durrell's The Alexandria Quartet was another obsession of mine many, many years ago.