The fourth novel in Anthony Powell's brilliant twelve-novel sequence, A Dance to the Music of Time (20040315)
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
At Lady Molly's (Dance to the Music of Time)
and over 1.5 million other books are available for Amazon Kindle . Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. Learn more. |
Book Description
Product details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Product Description
Review
"Rich, complex, original, showing consummate narrative skill" (Times Literary Supplement )
"I think it is now becoming clear that A Dance to the Music of Time is going to become the greatest modern novel since Ulysses." (Clive James )
"I would rather read Mr Powell than any English novelist now writing." (Kingsley Amis ) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
"I think it is now becoming clear that A Dance to the Music of Time is going to become the greatest modern novel since Ulysses." (Clive James )
"I would rather read Mr Powell than any English novelist now writing." (Kingsley Amis ) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Book Description
The fourth novel in Anthony Powell's brilliant twelve-novel sequence, A Dance to the Music of Time (20040315)
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
The book is fine in terms of content - very amusing and one of the best of the series.
But the print is very poor - much worse than in 1-3 of the series which I already have. Random House should be ashamed of sending out a copy like that. They are all clearly scanned editions, but that is no excuse.
But the print is very poor - much worse than in 1-3 of the series which I already have. Random House should be ashamed of sending out a copy like that. They are all clearly scanned editions, but that is no excuse.
By James Brydon
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Powell at his most magnificent best!
At the most basic level this novel, fourth volume in the masterful "Dance to the Music of Time" sequence, really only relates three or four set piece occasions (drinks at an aristocratic house in Kensington, a weekend spent in a country cottage within a landed estate, a drinks party to celebrate an engagement and Sunday lunch in a gentlemen's club), but from these Powell weaves a glorious tapestry of social observation, wry humour and political commentary.
This must have been at least the tenth time that I have read this novel yet still I found new facets to wonder at. As ever, one learns next to nothing about the detail of the narrator's life - at one point he remarks, "I was then at that stage of life when one has published a couple of novels ..." The last that we had heard of this aspect of his life was in the preceding volume ("The Acceptance World") when he was keen to try his hand at writing, but unsure of the best material with which to work.
Widmerpool is absent for the greater part of this novel but makes his customary mark, bursting upon the haut-monde scene with the announcement of his engagement to fast-living socialite, the Honourable Mildred Blaides. New territory for our Kenneth, and how will he take to the domestic lifestyle.
Read it and enjoy!
At the most basic level this novel, fourth volume in the masterful "Dance to the Music of Time" sequence, really only relates three or four set piece occasions (drinks at an aristocratic house in Kensington, a weekend spent in a country cottage within a landed estate, a drinks party to celebrate an engagement and Sunday lunch in a gentlemen's club), but from these Powell weaves a glorious tapestry of social observation, wry humour and political commentary.
This must have been at least the tenth time that I have read this novel yet still I found new facets to wonder at. As ever, one learns next to nothing about the detail of the narrator's life - at one point he remarks, "I was then at that stage of life when one has published a couple of novels ..." The last that we had heard of this aspect of his life was in the preceding volume ("The Acceptance World") when he was keen to try his hand at writing, but unsure of the best material with which to work.
Widmerpool is absent for the greater part of this novel but makes his customary mark, bursting upon the haut-monde scene with the announcement of his engagement to fast-living socialite, the Honourable Mildred Blaides. New territory for our Kenneth, and how will he take to the domestic lifestyle.
Read it and enjoy!
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.0 out of 5 stars
5 reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
It continues , as great as ever..
3 Feb 2011
By Paul Rooney
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
Volume 4 starts with a party at the Jeavons's.
The narrators first romance has broken up as she has gone back to her husband.
We are now in the mid 1930's with Hitler and Russia beginning to feature in the story lines.
There are several new characters introduced here , the main one being Erridge who is associated with Quiggen and the political left.
Others waltz in and out of the story from previous volumes. Widmerpool has a romance.
Not as good as volume three, only because it doesn't seem to me to flow as well but still super enjoyable.
The narrators first romance has broken up as she has gone back to her husband.
We are now in the mid 1930's with Hitler and Russia beginning to feature in the story lines.
There are several new characters introduced here , the main one being Erridge who is associated with Quiggen and the political left.
Others waltz in and out of the story from previous volumes. Widmerpool has a romance.
Not as good as volume three, only because it doesn't seem to me to flow as well but still super enjoyable.
4.0 out of 5 stars
It's opening scenes can be a bit overwhelming, but press on and this volume too entertains
10 Oct 2010
By Christopher Culver
- Published on Amazon.com
AT LADY MOLLY'S, the fourth in Anthony Powell's 12-volume sequence "A Dance to the Music of Time", is something of a step backwards after the preceding novel THE ACCEPTANCE WORLD. Though we are now in the mid-1930s when Hitler has come to power in Germany and the Soviet Union is flexing its might, Powell's characters focus more inwardly on the foibles of aristocratic dinners.
As the novel opens, narrator Nicholas Jenkins encounters the eponymous Lady Molly, whose home draws an amusing variety of English upper-class socialites. Jenkins comes to know the many Tolland siblings, and while not exactly a roman a clef, the novel has a recognizable basis in Powell's own circle of friends through older brother Erridge, an eccentric Left-leaning peer who has recently lived as a tramp, a character clearly modeled on George Orwell. Widmerpool briefly reveals himself at the beginning of AT LADY'S MOLLY'S as the series' antagonist, but is mostly depicted as a buffoon and the object of other character's derisions. Quiggin appears again, but Powell ascribes him a tumultuous home life instead of continuing to mock the Communists of the era through him.
In THE ACCEPTANCE WORLD, Jenkins wore his heart on his sleeve when describing his youthful love affair with Jean Templer, but in this novel he has reverted to a rather impersonal narrator, only describing the wild events around him without mentioning himself much. Nonetheless, we do get a single paragraph on Jenkins' feelings of love at first sight that is quite memorable, and the concluding events of the novel hint that the now thirty year-old has established a comfortable maturity.
After the third volume in the series, AT LADY MOLLY'S can be somewhat rough-going. THE ACCEPTANCE WORLD had excellent pacing and a refreshing brevity, but here Powell spends the first several tens of pages introducing us to a new cast of characters in a clumsy fashion. No doubt many readers who planned to go the distance and were happy to finish the first "movement" of the sequence got bogged down here and gave up. Still, once you've passed this hurdle, AT LADY MOLLY'S is a lot of fun, and I'm still keen to continue with the "Dance".
As the novel opens, narrator Nicholas Jenkins encounters the eponymous Lady Molly, whose home draws an amusing variety of English upper-class socialites. Jenkins comes to know the many Tolland siblings, and while not exactly a roman a clef, the novel has a recognizable basis in Powell's own circle of friends through older brother Erridge, an eccentric Left-leaning peer who has recently lived as a tramp, a character clearly modeled on George Orwell. Widmerpool briefly reveals himself at the beginning of AT LADY'S MOLLY'S as the series' antagonist, but is mostly depicted as a buffoon and the object of other character's derisions. Quiggin appears again, but Powell ascribes him a tumultuous home life instead of continuing to mock the Communists of the era through him.
In THE ACCEPTANCE WORLD, Jenkins wore his heart on his sleeve when describing his youthful love affair with Jean Templer, but in this novel he has reverted to a rather impersonal narrator, only describing the wild events around him without mentioning himself much. Nonetheless, we do get a single paragraph on Jenkins' feelings of love at first sight that is quite memorable, and the concluding events of the novel hint that the now thirty year-old has established a comfortable maturity.
After the third volume in the series, AT LADY MOLLY'S can be somewhat rough-going. THE ACCEPTANCE WORLD had excellent pacing and a refreshing brevity, but here Powell spends the first several tens of pages introducing us to a new cast of characters in a clumsy fashion. No doubt many readers who planned to go the distance and were happy to finish the first "movement" of the sequence got bogged down here and gave up. Still, once you've passed this hurdle, AT LADY MOLLY'S is a lot of fun, and I'm still keen to continue with the "Dance".
4.0 out of 5 stars
Its opening scenes can be a bit overwhelming, but press on and this volume too entertains
9 Oct 2010
By Christopher Culver
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
AT LADY MOLLY'S, the fourth in Anthony Powell's 12-volume sequence "A Dance to the Music of Time", is something of a step backwards after the preceding novel THE ACCEPTANCE WORLD. Though we are now in the mid-1930s when Hitler has come to power in Germany and the Soviet Union is flexing its might, Powell's characters focus more inwardly on the foibles of aristocratic dinners.
As the novel opens, narrator Nicholas Jenkins encounters the eponymous Lady Molly, whose home draws an amusing variety of English upper-class socialites. Jenkins comes to know the many Tolland siblings, and while not exactly a roman a clef, the novel has a recognizable basis in Powell's own circle of friends through older brother Erridge, an eccentric Left-leaning peer who has recently lived as a tramp, a character clearly modeled on George Orwell. Widmerpool briefly reveals himself at the beginning of AT LADY'S MOLLY'S as the series' antagonist, but is mostly depicted as a buffoon and the object of other character's derisions. Quiggin appears again, but Powell ascribes him a tumultuous home life instead of continuing to mock the Communists of the era through him.
In THE ACCEPTANCE WORLD, Jenkins wore his heart on his sleeve when describing his youthful love affair with Jean Templer, but in this novel he has reverted to a rather impersonal narrator, only describing the wild events around him without mentioning himself much. Nonetheless, we do get a single paragraph on Jenkins' feelings of love at first sight that is quite memorable, and the concluding events of the novel hint that the now thirty year-old has established a comfortable maturity.
After the third volume in the series, AT LADY MOLLY'S can be somewhat rough-going. THE ACCEPTANCE WORLD had excellent pacing and a refreshing brevity, but here Powell spends the first several tens of pages introducing us to a new cast of characters in a clumsy fashion. No doubt many readers who planned to go the distance and were happy to finish the first "movement" of the sequence got bogged down here and gave up. Still, once you've passed this hurdle, AT LADY MOLLY'S is a lot of fun, and I'm still keen to continue with the "Dance".
As the novel opens, narrator Nicholas Jenkins encounters the eponymous Lady Molly, whose home draws an amusing variety of English upper-class socialites. Jenkins comes to know the many Tolland siblings, and while not exactly a roman a clef, the novel has a recognizable basis in Powell's own circle of friends through older brother Erridge, an eccentric Left-leaning peer who has recently lived as a tramp, a character clearly modeled on George Orwell. Widmerpool briefly reveals himself at the beginning of AT LADY'S MOLLY'S as the series' antagonist, but is mostly depicted as a buffoon and the object of other character's derisions. Quiggin appears again, but Powell ascribes him a tumultuous home life instead of continuing to mock the Communists of the era through him.
In THE ACCEPTANCE WORLD, Jenkins wore his heart on his sleeve when describing his youthful love affair with Jean Templer, but in this novel he has reverted to a rather impersonal narrator, only describing the wild events around him without mentioning himself much. Nonetheless, we do get a single paragraph on Jenkins' feelings of love at first sight that is quite memorable, and the concluding events of the novel hint that the now thirty year-old has established a comfortable maturity.
After the third volume in the series, AT LADY MOLLY'S can be somewhat rough-going. THE ACCEPTANCE WORLD had excellent pacing and a refreshing brevity, but here Powell spends the first several tens of pages introducing us to a new cast of characters in a clumsy fashion. No doubt many readers who planned to go the distance and were happy to finish the first "movement" of the sequence got bogged down here and gave up. Still, once you've passed this hurdle, AT LADY MOLLY'S is a lot of fun, and I'm still keen to continue with the "Dance".
›
Go to Amazon.com to see all 5 reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
