Powell, Anthony

Powell, Anthony, 1905–2000, English novelist. A distinguished writer of social comedy, he is best known for his 12-volume novel sequence collectively entitled A Dance to the Music of Time, a detailed yet panoramic study of changes in the snobbish, insular world of the English upper and middle classes from World War I to the 1960s. Novels in the series include A Question of Upbringing (1951), The Acceptance World (1955), Casanova's Chinese Restaurant (1960), The Valley of Bones (1964), The Military Philosophers (1969), Books Do Furnish a Room (1971), and Hearing Secret Harmonies (1975). Powell's other novels include Afternoon Men (1931), From a View to a Death (1933), and The Fisher King (1986). He was also the author of a study of John Aubrey (1948), four volumes of memoirs (1976–82; abr. ed. To Keep the Ball Rolling, 2001), Journals, 1982–92 (3 vol., 1995–97), two collections of essays on writing (1990; 1991, rev. ed. 1994), and two plays (1972).

Bibliography

See biographies by N. F. Brennan (rev. ed. 1995) and M. Barber (2004); studies by R. K. Morris (1968), B. Bergonzi (rev. ed. 1971), J. Tucker (1976), H. Spurling (1978), N. McEwan (1991), R. L. Selig (1991), and N. Birns (2004); bibliography ed. by G. P. Lilley (1993).

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Powell, Anthony (Dymoke)

Anthony Powell, 1974

(credit: Fay Godwin)

(born Dec. 21, 1905, London, Eng.—died March 28, 2000, near Frome, Somerset) British novelist. He published his first novel, Afternoon Men (1931), while working in a London publishing house. He worked in journalism and served in World War II before publishing the first of 12 novels in the autobiographical and satiric series A Dance to the Music of Time (1951–75). His best-known work, it reflects his outlook and experiences of English society in the decades before and after the war. His later novels include The Fisher King (1986).