A Dance to the Music of Time

A Dance to the Music of Time, series of 12 novels by Anthony Powell, published from 1951 to 1975. The series—which includes A Question of Upbringing (1951), A Buyer’s Market (1952), The Acceptance World (1955), At Lady Molly’s (1957), Casanova’s Chinese Restaurant (1960), The Kindly Ones (1962), The Valley of Bones (1964), The Soldier’s Art (1966), The Military Philosophers (1968), Books Do Furnish a Room (1971), Temporary Kings (1973), and Hearing Secret Harmonies (1975)—traces events in the lives of a number of characters from Britain’s upper classes and bohemia, following them from adolescence in the 1920s to senescence in the 1970s.

Powell found inspiration for the title and form of his opus in Nicolas Poussin’s painting A Dance to the Music of Time, which depicts the Four Seasons dancing to music played by Father Time. The novels focus on social behaviour; all characters are dealt with objectively, as they would wish to appear to outside observers. Personality and motivation are revealed through minute and subtle analysis of disconnected incidents. Nicholas Jenkins, a nonparticipant who is secure in his own values, narrates much of the action of the characters, who are obsessed with power, style, creativity, and public image.