ANTHONY POWELL

Dreary biography of the writer best known for his 12-novel sequence, A Dance to the Music of Time.

Indeed, British journalist Barber’s main interest here seems to be in telling readers exactly which real-life people inspired the series’ fictional characters. This could be interesting, since Powell (1905–2000) numbered among his acquaintances such leading literary figures as Evelyn Waugh, George Orwell, Malcolm Muggeridge, and Cyril Connolly. But Barber’s approach is numbingly literal (an interminable discussion of which Oxford don was the basis for the manipulative Professor Sillery, for example), and he does little to convey the distinctive qualities of Powell’s work. The author’s other primary concern, making sure readers realize that he personally met many of these distinguished folk, similarly provides scant insight and plenty of annoyance; not many biographers are so eager to document contact with their subject that they would quote a journal entry in which Powell, commenting on being interviewed by Barber, describes him as “an uninspiring figure, to say the least.” Readers willing to wade through such tangential material can glean a few facts about Powell’s privileged background (Eton, Oxford), his party-going days as a Bright Young Thing in the 1920s, the mildly conservative and largely apolitical stance that put him at odds with London’s left-wing literary climate of the ’30s, his military service during WWII, etc. They will learn almost nothing about the artistic convictions or intentions that prompted A Dance to the Music of Time; Barber doesn’t even bother to properly explain that the title comes from a painting by Poussin, merely tossing off a reference that assumes his readers already know all about it. His habit of referring to fictional characters as though they were real people will be equally irritating to those who picked this up assuming they might find it interesting even if they were not familiar with every word Powell wrote.

Amazingly dull for such a relatively short text concerning a group of brilliant artists during a lively cultural period.