A Dance to the Music of Time 1st Movement by Anthony Powell

Imagine watching one of those television dramas on Masterpiece Theater about the doings of the British upper class in the period between the two world wars. The action plays out slowly against the backdrop of changing times--small human dramas reflecting the larger changes in society. Reading this book is exactly like that.

Actually, this volume includes three novels, part of a twelve-novel series that carries the narrator from the early 1920s through the late 1960s.

A Question of Upbringing introduces the series narrator, Jenkins, as a teenager at a prestigious boarding school, as he interacts with his friends Templer, already a womanizer, and Stringham, a moody aristocrat. A fourth character, Widmerpool, is notable as a awkwardly ambitious object of ridicule. A Buyers Market follows the four characters and introduces many others as the young men continue at university or start careers. The Acceptance World finds Jenkins in his 20s as a published novelist involved in his first love affair, Templer as divorced and financially successful, Stringham as divorced and seemingly on a down-hill alcoholic slide, and Widmerpool as a surprisingly adept businessman and budding politician.

No hugely dramatic events take place here--no mysterious deaths, no great intrigues, no strong conflicts. Rather, this is a picture of the day-to-day doings of a certain class of people in a certain place and time. It is slow, it is understated, it is very British. It is also very, very funny, in an entirely ironic, subtle, British way.

Particularly subtle is the way the author reveals how mistaken Jenkins was in his initial assessment of his friends and other school acquaintances. Also subtle is the way Powell reveals the changing times through the actions and activities of the characters.

All of this sounds very boring, but I loved these books. The writing is thoroughly readable, although formal. And it is surpassingly elegant. I think this is the kind of writing Henry James aimed at but often just missed. Would it be too grammar-geeky to say that I loved the punctuation in these books? The sentences were complicated, but punctuated absolutely correctly, so that the language flowed. I admit to being excessively annoyed by the arrogance of writers who decide for one reason or another to dispense with the rules of punctuation and expect the reader to do the extra work of deciphering their texts.

This novel series is #43 on the Modern Library Top 100 list and also included on the Time Magazine Top 100. Highly recommended for those who like to watch Masterpiece Theater.