Casanova's Chinese Restaurant. A Dance to the Music of Time, Volume 5

by Anthony Powell

Book Overview

'He is, as Proust was before him, the great literary chronicler of his culture in his time.' GUARDIAN 'A Dance to the Music of Time' is universally acknowledged as one of the great works of English... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0006145426
• ISBN13: 9780006145424
• Release Date: January 1977
• Publisher: Fontana
• Length: 221 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.

Customer Reviews

An oblique view of things

Hugh Moreland and Nick Jenkins--Jenkins is the main character of the series, the narrator--plan to go to the cinema to the consternation of Mr. Deacon. Mr. Deacon likes Moreland. Moreland is interested in Matilda Wilson, an actress. Moreland has Nick Jenkins accompany him to play by Webster in which she is appearing. Nick understands that he is being used as a sort of beard, a distraction, to their romance. Lady Warminster is the sister of Molly Jeavons. Lady Warminster, Blanche, is quieter than the other sisters. She gives the impression of being undeveloped. St. John Clarke, another personage in this installment of the series, is a minor public figure. He plays a part here, but as a writer he has been forgotten by the critics. Nick has not seen Kenneth Widmerpool since his, (Nick's), marriage to Isobel Tolland. It is discussed among the characters how his engagement was cancelled. Charles Stringham and a secretary to Charles's stepfather, a Miss Weedon, live at the Jeavonses', (Lady Molly's), currently. Then Nick runs into Widmerpool at a nursing home. Widmerpool is surprised to see him in such a setting. (Later it is learned that Widmerpool is very put out over the abdication.) Things progress over time and Moreland's now wife, Matilda, has a child, a girl, who survives for only a few hours. Moreland is in deepest dejection. The Morelands keep late hours. They have a sort of anti-marriage Nick thinks. Shortly after Nick's running into the Morelands d and it is learned that an important performance of a Moreland composition is planned, the abdication crisis arises. Moreland fears that under the circumstances his music may receive short shrift. The fear is not merely hypothetical since it seems at the time that nearly everyone is focusing his or her full attention on the machinations of Edward and Baldwin. Nick and Isobel are joined by Lady Priscilla at the concert and the party later by Charles Stringham's mother. It is noted that Priscilla received a free ticket to the event. In writing the books comprising A DANCE TO THE MUSIC OF TIME the author presents his view of reality. The events taking place are experienced by persons who come upon the stage by means of coincidence and serendipity. For example, when Charles Stringham shows up at his mother's party, intoxicated, Nick is detailed to keep an eye on him. This casual state of affairs inevitably results in a shifting of chaotic, disparate shards of reality. The said shards are then material to be reassembled by some unseen hand into a new harmonious whole.