Magnum opus

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This article was published 19/01/2019 (2687 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

British author Anthony Powell died in 2000 at age 94, leaving English literature with a marvellous 12-volume magnum opus called A Dance to the Music of Time.

English biographer Hilary Spurling has written the definitive biography of Powell, one so chock-full of colourful incidents and distinctive people that it might well stir up new interest in Dance. Those familiar with Dance will at last learn how much of it is autobiographical.

Powell (pronounced “pole”) had a lonely childhood. His father, Philip, was in the military, stationed in many places before and during the First World War. Powell and his mother, Maud, 16 years older than Philip, moved a lot, young Tony going from school to school, making no friends until he boarded at Eton College in 1919. He did poorly in sports and was a so-so student, but managed to further his interest in art.

His time at Oxford was undistinguished, and he had little chance to meet girls. Adolescent boys like Powell made trips to Paris brothels to lose their virginity, some even sent by their parents for that purpose.

Spurling writes, “Tony, in Paris with his parents for his twentieth birthday in December 1925, had the practical mechanics of sex laid out for him at last by an obliging young tart called Lulu, whom he had quite innocently picked up while taking tea on the Champs-Elysées.”

Powell’s best friend at school was Henry Yorke, who, as Henry Green, enjoyed early success as a novelist. Over the years Powell befriended such notable writers as Evelyn Waugh, Graham Greene and Kingsley Amis. It was common for writer friends to review each other’s books, and not always favourably.

Powell’s first job was with London publisher Duckworth. He had to read unsolicited manuscripts and, writes Spurling, “nothing taught him more about the technical side of writing than reading and assessing up to 50 bad novels a week.” His own first novel, Afternoon Men, was published by Duckworth in 1931.

The novel reflected the raffish late-night parties in Powell’s neighbourhood; he moved with ease from the formal working world to music-and-dance-filled bohemia. He met and had affairs with several women. Despite living frugally, he travelled in Europe, a diversion he enjoyed all his life.

In the midst of one of his affairs, Powell met Violet Pakenham, and he proposed to her only three weeks later. Spurling says Pakenham “was inquisitive, observant and smart with an intuitive understanding of people, and a consuming passion for parties.” She and Tony married Dec. 1, 1934, honeymooned in Greece and moved into a “poky little” London flat.

Powell left Duckworth and his £5-a-week salary to write scripts for Warner Brothers; Violet worked for the Evening Standard. Meanwhile, Adolf Hitler was creating the havoc that led to the Second World War, and Powell was assigned to military duty. In 1940, after two miscarriages, Violet gave birth to a boy, Tristram. Tony spent time with them when he could, but Violet moved around to avoid German bombing, and their life couldn’t be normal until the war ended.

Powell published five novels prior to the war, but it was afterward that he began planning a major work. By then, he was reviewing books for the Times Literary Supplement and welcoming his second son, John.

While trying to make a living and figure out the basics of his projected masterwork, he fell into a deep depression (partly induced by knowledge of an affair Violet had), and he strove to write himself out of it.

He completed the first volume, A Question of Upbringing, in 1951 and, encouraged by its positive reception, he went on to write 11 more at the rate of one every two years.

A £17,000 inheritance from his aunt allowed him and his family to move to the countryside in 1952 — The Chantry would be his home for the rest of his life. It was conducive to his creating a work so rich in characterization and comedy that it might simply be the finest achievement by an English novelist in the 20th century.

Spurling — who in 1977 produced Invitation to the Dance, a guide to Powell’s epic — has captured, with grace and humour, the essence of his life. She covers the final 25 years in only 15 pages, implying his work after Dance — two novels, four memoirs, three collections of journals, two collections of reviews — was, like most of Powell’s relaxed later life, anticlimactic.

Dave Williamson is a Winnipeg author and longtime fan of Anthony Powell.

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