A Dance to the Music of Time is a twelve volume roman à clef by Anthony Powell, published between 1951 and 1975. Critically acclaimed on its publication, it is a satire on English political and cultural life in the mid 20th century. It has been adapted by Hugh Whitemore for a TV mini-series in 1997, starring Simon Russell Beale, James Purefoy and Miranda Richardson. A roman à clef or roman à clé (French for novel with a key) is a novel describing real-life events behind a façade of fiction. ... Anthony Dymoke Powell (December 21, 1905 _ March 28, 2000) is a writer most remembered for his A Dance to the Music of Time duodecalogy published between 1951 and 1975. ... 1951 was a common year starting on Monday; see its calendar. ... 1975 was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1975 calendar). ... Royal motto: Dieu et mon droit (French: God and my right) Englands location within the UK Official language English de facto Capital London de facto Largest city London Area  - Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population  - Total (2001)  - Density Ranked 1st UK 49,138,831 377/km² Ethnicity... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the... An American family watching television in the 1950s. ... 1997 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... James Purefoy (born June 4, 1964) is a British actor. ... Miranda Richardson // Mini Biography Miranda Richardson (Born 3 March 1958, in Southport, Lancashire) is a British actress. ...

The sequence takes the form of the reminiscences of the narrator Nick Jenkins who falls into a reverie at the beginning of the first volume (A Question of Upbringing, 1951) while watching snow descending on a coal fire. This reminds him of "the ancient world - legionaries (...) mountain altars (...) centaurs (....)". These classical projections bring back to him his days at school which open A Question of Upbringing. Over the course of the following twelve volumes, he recalls the people he met over the previous half a century. Little is told of Jenkins' personal life outside his encounters with the great and the good, with events, such as his wife's miscarriage, only being related in conversation with the principal characters. 1951 was a common year starting on Monday; see its calendar. ...

The title is taken from a painting by Nicolas Poussin, on which Jenkins reflects in the first two pages of A Question of Upbringing: Et in Arcadia ego by Nicolas Poussin. ...

These classical projections, and something from the fire, suddenly suggested Poussin's scene in which the Seasons, hand in hand and facing outward, tread in rhythm to the notes of the lyre that the winged and naked greybeard plays. The image of Time brought thoughts of mortality: of human beings, facing outward like the Seasons, moving hand in hand in intricate measure, stepping slowly, methodically sometimes a trifle awkwardly, in evolutions that take recognizable shape: or breaking into seemingly meaningless gyrations, while partners disappear only to reappear again, once more giving pattern to the spectacle: unable to control the melody, unable, perhaps, to control the steps of the dance.

The novels

• 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)
• Hearing Secret Harmonies - (1975)

See also: 1950 in literature, other events of 1951, 1952 in literature, list of years in literature. ... See also: 1951 in literature, other events of 1952, 1953 in literature, list of years in literature. ... See also: 1954 in literature, other events of 1955, 1956 in literature, list of years in literature. ... See also: 1956 in literature, other events of 1957, 1958 in literature, list of years in literature. ... Casanovas Chinese Restaurant is a book by Anthony Powell (ISBN 0099472449). ... See also: 1959 in literature, other events of 1960, 1961 in literature, list of years in literature. ... The Kindly Ones (a translation of the Greek Eumenides, kind-hearted) is a euphemistic reference to the Furies in Greek mythology. ... See also: 1961 in literature, other events of 1962, 1963 in literature, list of years in literature. ... See also: 1963 in literature, other events of 1964, 1965 in literature, list of years in literature. ... See also: 1965 in literature, other events of 1966, 1967 in literature, list of years in literature. ... See also: 1967 in literature, other events of 1968, 1969 in literature, list of years in literature. ... See also: 1970 in literature, other events of 1971, 1972 in literature, list of years in literature. ... See also: 1972 in literature, other events of 1973, 1974 in literature, list of years in literature. ... See also: 1974 in literature, other events of 1975, 1976 in literature, list of years in literature. ...

Principal characters

more to be done The Labour Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom (see British politics), and one of the United Kingdoms three main political parties. ... A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative elected by the voters of an electoral district to a parliament; in the Westminster system, specifically to the lower house. ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km (over 11 miles) into the air, August 9, 1945. ... The British general election of 1945 held on July 5th 1945 but not counted and declared until July 26, 1945 (due to the time it took to transport the votes of those serving overseas) was one of the most significant general elections of the 20th century. ... Robert Maxwell Ian Robert Maxwell (June 10, 1923 – November 5, 1991), British media proprietor, rose from poverty to build a great publishing empire, but was revealed after his mysterious death to have been misusing staff pension funds on a massive scale to prop up his ailing empire. ... Denis Winston Healey, Baron Healey, PC (born 30 August 1917), is a British Labour politician, regarded by many as the best Prime Minister we never had. He was born in Keighley, Yorkshire. ... The University of Oxford, located in the city of Oxford, England, is the oldest university in the English-speaking world. ... Frank Raymond Leavis (1895-1978) was an influential British literary critic of the early-to-mid-twentieth century. ... Victor Gollancz (April 9, 1893 - February 8, 1967) was a British publisher, socialist, and humanitarian. ... Bernard Law Montgomery Field Marshal Sir Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein (November 17, 1887 - March 24, 1976) was a British Army officer, most noted for his involvement in World War II and often referred to as Monty. ... Statue of Field Marshal The Viscount Alanbrooke, MoD Building, Whitehall, London Field Marshal Alan Francis Brooke, 1st Viscount Alanbrooke, KG, GCB, OM, GCVO, DSO (July 23, 1883 - June 17, 1963) was a British Field Marshal during World War II. He also served as Lord High Constable during the coronation of... Julian MacLaren-Ross (July 7, 1912 - November 1964) was a novelist whose reputation as a dandy in post-war London bohemia actually far exceeds the volume of his work. ... Constant Leonard Lambert, ( August 23, 1905 – August 21, 1951) was a British composer and conductor. ... John Galsworthy (August 14, 1867 – January 31, 1933) was an English novelist and playwright. ... Noël Coward Sir Noel Peirce Coward (spelling his forename Noël with the diaeresis was an affectation of later life, and Peirce is the correct spelling) (December 16, 1899 - March 26, 1973) was an English actor, playwright, and composer of popular music. ... Francis Aungier Frank Pakenham, 7th Earl of Longford, KG, PC (December 5, 1905 - August 3, 2001) was a politician, author, and social reformer. ...

External links

• A synopsis of each novel from Anthony Powell Society
• "Models for Characters in Anthony Powell's A Dance to the Music of Time"
• Phillips Academy: A Dance to the Music of Time
• Poussin's painting