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词条 A Dance to the Music of Time
释义

  1. Inspiration

  2. Analysis

  3. The novels

  4. Principal characters

  5. Adaptations

  6. References

  7. External links

{{short description|Book series}}{{italic title}}{{Use British English|date=May 2011}}{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2012}}

For the painting, see A Dance to the Music of Time (painting).

A Dance to the Music of Time is a 12-volume cycle of novels by Anthony Powell, inspired by the painting of the same name by Nicolas Poussin and 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 sequence is narrated by Nick Jenkins in the form of his reminiscences. At the beginning of the first volume, Nick 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. Little is told of Jenkins's personal life beyond his encounters with the great and the bad. Events, such as his wife's miscarriage, are only related in conversation with the principal characters.

Time magazine included the novel in its TIME 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005.[1] The editors of Modern Library ranked the work as 43rd greatest English-language novel of the 20th century.[2]

Inspiration

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.

Analysis

  • Powell's official biographer, Hilary Spurling, has published Invitation to the Dance – a Handbook to Anthony Powell's A Dance to the Music of Time. This annotates, in dictionary form, the characters, events, art, music, and other references. She has also calculated the timeline employed by the author: this is used in the synopses linked from the novels below.
  • The various aspects of the novel-sequence are also analysed in An Index to 'A Dance to the Music of Time{{'}} by B. J. Moule.[3]

The novels

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.

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, 1928 or 1929, 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

Principal characters

CharacterDetailsHistorical inspirations[4]
Nick JenkinsNarratorA cypher, everyman; Powell himself
Isobel TollandOne of the Tolland sisters, whom Jenkins later marriesLady Violet Pakenham, third daughter of the 5th Earl of Longford and Powell's wife.
Kenneth WidmerpoolA 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 StringhamSchoolfriend 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 TemplerRaffish schoolfellow of Nick'sbased on John Spencer, friend of the author's.
Jean TemplerPeter's sister; Nick's lover
SilleryManipulative Oxford donProfessor Sir Ernest Barker, and "Sligger" Urquhart. Not Sir Maurice Bowra as often suggested.
Pamela FlittonFemme Fatalebased on Barbara Skelton, tempestuous sometime wife of Cyril Connolly.
Mark MembersPromising poetPeter Quennell, all-purpose literary personage, poet, and cultural historian. The name and the conference-going suggest Stephen Spender.
Edgar DeaconDisreputable painter and antique dealerCombination of Mr Bailey, an alcoholic antiques dealer, and eccentric bookseller Christopher Millard.
Dr TrelawneyOccultistAleister Crowley, self-styled Great Beast 666
The Field MarshalLeader of desert warfareBernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein
X. TrapnelNovelist and parodistJulian Maclaren-Ross
Hugh MorelandComposerConstant Lambert
St John ClarkePassé authorJohn Galsworthy
Max PilgrimEntertainerin the manner of Noël Coward inspired by Douglas Byng
Sir Magnus DonnersMagnate and government ministerpartly drawn from Lord Beaverbrook
J. G. QuigginMarxist writerConflation of Powell's enemies, novelist C. P. Snow and critic F. R. Leavis.
Erridge (Earl of Warminster)Socialist peer; Jenkins's brother-in-lawThe 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.

Adaptations

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.[5] 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 by Anthony Powell and Hugh Whitemore for Channel 4 in 1997, directed by Christopher Morahan and Alvin Rakoff.[6]

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 Purefoy
John Standing
Tom McHugh
Alex Jennings
Gareth Johnson, Noel Johnson
Charles Stringham 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
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
Lady Molly Jeavons Sarah Badel Heather Tracy Sian Phillips
Lady Isobel Tolland Emma Fielding Zoe Waites Elizabeth Proud

References

1. ^{{cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/2005/100books/the_complete_list.html |title=The Complete List , TIME Magazine – ALL-TIME 100 Novels |work=TIME |accessdate=15 May 2011| archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20100313052053/http://www.time.com/time/2005/100books/the_complete_list.html| archivedate=13 March 2010| deadurl= no | date=16 October 2005}}
2. ^{{cite web|author=Search for a Title or Author |url=http://www.randomhouse.com/modernlibrary/100bestnovels.html |title=The Modern Library , 100 Best , Novels |publisher=Randomhouse.com |accessdate=15 May 2011 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100207224252/http://www.randomhouse.com/modernlibrary/100bestnovels.html |archivedate=7 February 2010 |deadurl=yes }}
3. ^The time-line of the novels, how the various episodes recur in the movement of the Dance and the career, character and relationships of Kenneth Widmerpool are analysed in extracts taken from An Index to 'A Dance to the Music of Time{{'}} by B. J. Moule (published by consent). The latter extract is accessible in standard format at Kenneth Widmerpool
4. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.anthonypowell.org.uk/home.php?page=M02 |title=Anthony Powell Society – A Dance to the Music of Time Character Models |publisher=Anthonypowell.org.uk |accessdate=15 May 2011}}
5. ^{{cite web |url=http://www.anthonypowell.org.uk/dance/dradio.htm |title=Dance on BBC Radio 4 |author=Marshall, Keith |date=15 February 2005 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080920102112/http://www.anthonypowell.org.uk/dance/dradio.htm |archivedate=20 September 2008}}
6. ^{{imdb title|id=0118297|title=A Dance to the Music of Time}}

External links

  • A synopsis of each novel from Anthony Powell Society
  • "Models for Characters in Anthony Powell's A Dance to the Music of Time"
  • Poussin's painting
{{A Dance to the Music of Time}}{{DEFAULTSORT:A Dance To The Music Of Time}}

3 : 20th-century British novels|Novel sequences|A Dance to the Music of Time

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