Very interesting discussion. Re Powell’s Dance - I am torn between tedium and fascination, the latter making me keep going back to the novels again and again. Powell’s obliqueness and orotundity can be annoying. Evelyn Waugh is the greater writer, much more memorable.
@@booksosubstance That's exactly how I felt reading and re-reading the 12-novel sequence. I'd say that the 4 volumes of his memoirs, are more consistently interesting than the Dance sequence. Although they don't attain the heights of satisfaction one occasionally derives from episodes in the Dance. Perry Anderson has dedicated two long essays to the work of Powell for the London review of Books, which I think are worth reading.
Very interesting discussion. Re Powell’s Dance - I am torn between tedium and fascination, the latter making me keep going back to the novels again and again. Powell’s obliqueness and orotundity can be annoying. Evelyn Waugh is the greater writer, much more memorable.
You nailed it, the books really do skirt that line between tedium and fascination, especially given how distant the narrator can be.
@@booksosubstance That's exactly how I felt reading and re-reading the 12-novel sequence. I'd say that the 4 volumes of his memoirs, are more consistently interesting than the Dance sequence. Although they don't attain the heights of satisfaction one occasionally derives from episodes in the Dance. Perry Anderson has dedicated two long essays to the work of Powell for the London review of Books, which I think are worth reading.