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Cassidy Carpenter In A Dance to the Music of Time author Anthony Powell uses many types of divination to foreshadow events in the book. One of the least well known forms of prediction is Cartomancy which is used by Mrs. Erdleigh in the Ufford hotel with Nick and Uncle Giles. This moment in the book is easily overlooked or thought to be with tarot cards. By looking at the history and significance of catomancy and horoscopes, it is obvious that Powell was well versed in this complex mysticism. The predictions and proclamations by Mrs. Erdleigh about Nick are based on horoscopes and specific cards that would have part of her cartomancy reading. The card reading is triggered by Nick's interest in Mrs. Erdleigh's opal ring. Mrs. Erdleigh readily reveals that she was "born in October" and astrologically falls "under the Scales," which refers the sun horoscope Libra (AW 9). The opal is a symbol of her abilities in divination because the opal is the birth stone for October and "enhances your ability to communicate what is in your heart" (Crystal Cure). Nick responds with the equally important information that he is an archer (AW 9). This refers to the fact that he was born sometime in late November or December and is under the sun horoscope of Sagittarius. Mrs. Erdleigh uses this knowledge to enhance her predictions using a normal deck of playing cards. Cartomancy uses a fifty-two playing card deck to predict the future. There are thirteen cards in each of the four suits which correspond to the thirteen lunar months in a year. The fifty-two cards correspond to the fifty-two days in a year and each house relates to a different element. Hearts signifies water and are typically happy cards that involve love and friendship. Clubs correspond to the element of fire and cater towards business, ambition, and achievement. Diamonds are elements of earth and generally relate to career and monetary issues. Spades are elements of air; they signify gossip, challenges, and upsets (Café Astrology). Each of the different numbers and face cards in the deck correspond to specific traits and predictions. Anthony Powell uses this fact to foreshadow events in the book using actual predictions that a card would make. Mrs. Erdleigh uses her knowledge of Nick's horoscope as a precursor to the predictions of cartomancy. Nick is a typical Sagittarius, modest, honest, freedom-loving, blindly optimistic, restless, and intellectual (Astrology Online). A common profession of Sagittarius' is as a musician which prompts Mrs. Erdleigh to ask Nick, "Are you musical?" but when he responds no she assumes that he must then be a writer (AW 14). This artistic assumption is based primarily on her knowledge of horoscopes. Mrs. Erdleigh's next proclamation, "You live between two words," relates to a comment by Nick two pages before as Mrs. Erdleigh was setting up the cards, he asked "That would be Diamonds, I suppose. Or Clubs?" (12). This seemingly irrelevant comment is very significant when horoscopes are applied to cartomancy. Sagittarius, which includes birthdays from November 22nd to December 21st, is under the house of Diamonds (Cartomancy). Capricorn which is under the house of Clubs spans birth dates from December 22nd to January 19th (Cartomancy). There is only a one day difference between these two houses. This means that Nick's birthday must be near the December 21st and tends to express characteristics of a both a Sagittarius and a Capricorn. A fact which I discovered after making this conclusion is that Anthony Powell's birthday is also December 21st implying that this comment was suggesting that exact date. A noteworthy characteristic of Capricorn that Nick expresses, which may have been true for Powell as well, is the tendency to "make few good friends, but remain intensely loyal" (Astrology Online). Mrs. Erdleigh's use of cartomancy builds on horoscopes to predict future events in Nick's life. Though Powell does not cite specific cards, the details that he provides allow us to make these conclusions. First a two of clubs is drawn as Mrs. Erdleigh declares that Nick "must make a greater effort in life" (AW 15). This card is a symbol of a crossroads (Cartomancy), Nick "can see that" and will have to make a choice of which path he will choose (15). Appropriately followed by a prediction of an important lady "of disparate coloring [and] medium hair... and I think you have run across her once or twice before" (15). This of course is referring to Jean Templer and in cartomany the Queen of Clubs, a card which refers to a "dark-haired confidant woman." This card must have been coupled with an Ace of Hearts, three of spades, and King of Spades: each respectively symbolizing, a love interest, "a third person breaking into a relationship somehow," and "a dark-haired ambitious man who is perhaps self-serving" (Café Astrology). Mrs. Erdleigh summarizes these cards by saying that "There seems to be another man interested, too. He might even be a husband. You don't like him much.... In business. Often goes abroad" (AW 15). This King of Spades is Duport, the third person breaking into his relationship with Jean, an event which had not yet developed at this point in the book. The correlation of Mrs.Erdleigh's predictions to the significance of the cards and later events in the book are undeniable. After an in depth focus on love and relationships, the predictions shift to business. Mrs. Erdleigh predicts that "There is a small mater in your business that is going to cause inconvenience... It has to do with an elderly man-and two young ones connected with him" (AW 16). Nick immediately thinks that "she might be en rapport with my firm's growing difficulties with St. John Clarke… and the young man, of course, St. John's secretary, Mark Members" (16). Two cards are associated with this prediction. First, the eight of clubs which symbolize work problems that revolve around jealousy, and secondly, the two of diamonds which involves a business partnership, a change in relationship, and gossip (Café Astrology). The change in relationship that occurs is between Mark Member and Quiggin, a relationship that Mrs. Erdleigh foresees to be "troublesome" (AW 16). Nick recognizes the validity of her statements so far saying that "this was all credible enough, including the character sketch, though perhaps not very interesting" (16). Nick may not have found this information alarming, but the implications on this prediction are of the change in secretary of St. John Clarke, an event which Nick would have otherwise been unable to anticipate. Divination plays an important role in The Acceptance World. Powell effectively uses very specific details and nuances to foreshadow events in the book. The ancient practice of cartomancy is largely unknown but plays an important part in understanding Nick's character based on his horoscope, affirming the future relations Nick will have with Jean, and predicting the break over St. John Clarke between Members and Quiggin. These very important plot points are expertly set up in the first few pages of this novel. Using cartomancy Powell is able to give insight into the future life and character of Nick Jenkins. Astrology Online: Capricorn. Michael Thiessen. Nov. 6, 2007 [http://www.astrology-online.com/capricrn.htm]. Astrology Online: Sagittarius. Michael Thiessen. Nov. 6, 2007 [http://www.astrology-online.com/sagittar.htm]. Fortune Telling Playing Cards: It's All in the Cards. CafeAstrology.com. Nov. 6, 2007 [http://www.cafeastrology.com/fortunetellingcards.html]. Learning Cartomancy. Nov. 6, 2007. Linda. Nov. 6, 2007 [http://www.geocities.com/canje123/cartomancy1.html]. Opal Gemstone Meaning. Emily Gems. Nov. 6, 2007 [http://crystal-cure.com/opal-gem.html]. Powell, Anthony. A Dance to the Music of Time: The Acceptance World. University of Chicago Press: Chicago, 1995. |
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Nick Anschuetz In The Acceptance World, Anthony Powell introduces us to the political views of the 1930's. Until this book, politics have not played a large role in A Dance to the Music of Time. However, in the decade preceding World War II, we see a large divergence in political views in England, most notably the views of the communists on the extreme left and the fascists on the extreme right. Merriam-Webster defines communism as "a theory advocating the elimination of private property," while it defines fascism as "a political philosophy ... that exalts nation ... above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government ... severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition." Ironically, while the two theories are described at opposite poles of the political spectrum, both are intensely authoritarian. Communism depends on a strong and highly centralized authority to control the state economy, while fascism is a manifestation of control simply for its own sake, and for the main purpose of the continuation of the central government. Communism in England was obviously influenced by Karl Marx's Das Kapital, as referenced in the novel by Quiggin, an outspoken Marxist. The largest communist party in England at the time was the Communist Party of Great Britain. Before World War II, being a communist was not quite so taboo, and many members of British Parliament, particularly members of the Independent Labour Party, were openly communist. In the early 1930's, the CPGB declared all other parties to be social-fascist and prohibited simultaneous allegiance with any other party. The most famous fascist leader of England was Sir Oswald Mosley, a former Conservative Party MP and Labour government minister. In 1932, Mosley formed the British Union of Fascists. Mosley modeled himself after Benito Mussolini, the fascist dictator of Italy. Mosley even instituted a dress code: black uniforms, which were directly copied from the Blackshirts in Italy. The CPGB created the National Unemployed Workers Movement to draw attention to the economic recession in England during the 1920's and 1930's. At the time, the huge slump caused massive unemployment, and the government provided little relief. Those who were provided aid were required to pass a Means Test, which determined if you were "poor enough" to require aid. The NUWM fought for an abolition of the Means Test, restoration of benefits, and additional government relief. Their biggest method of protesting was marching. One of their most famous marches is known as the Jarrow March, in which 207 unemployed workers and communists marched in 1936 three hundred miles from the town of Jarrow (near Newcastle) to Parliament in London with a petition signed by 11,000 people asking for better jobs and relief, not only for the people of Jarrow, but for everyone else who was suffering during the British Great Depression. This march is very similar to the one in which Quiggan is involved in The Acceptance World. Only strong and fit men were permitted to participate in the Jarrow March, and for good reason: the fascist Mosley was determined that his BUF break up any communist rally or meeting by use of force. The Blackshirts were Mosley's personal paramilitary force who would regularly use violence to break up any communist or socialist gathering. The fascists also used marches to gain popular support. In one such march through the heavily Jewish neighborhood in London on Cable Street in 1936, the fascists met strong resistance from Jewish, socialist, communist, and Irish anti-fascist groups. The government sanctioned the march and the police were ordered to protect the BUF against any violence. The anti-fascist groups placed numerous roadblocks on the street to prevent the BUF from marching. There is some dispute as to exactly what happened, but we do know that after a melee between the police, communists, and fascist, the BUF dispersed and never marched on Cable Street. A sign was placed at this location commemorating the Battle of Cable Street and acknowledging the bravery of the men and women who fought against fascism. This incident led to the Public Order Act 1936, which banned wearing any political uniform. This is said to be a direct factor in the political decline of the BUF. Interestingly enough, during the hunger march described in The Acceptance World, nothing happens to disturb the relative peace. This parallels the historically peaceful Jarrow March. However, the writers of the A Dance to the Music of Time film decided it was important to have that demonstration be broken up by some of Mosley's Blackshirts. The scene quickly turns violent. The writers' addition of the Blackshirts to the march in the film underscores the growing political rift in England. It will be interesting to see how differing political views will change character's relationships in upcoming A Dance to the Music of Time novels. "Oswald Mosley". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oswald_Mosley "British Union of Fascists". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Union_of_Fascists "Battle of Cable Street". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cable_Street "Communist Party of Great Britain". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Party_of_Great_Britain "Jarrow March". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jarrow_March "Oswald Mosley". http://www.oswaldmosley.com/ "The Battle of Cable Street: Myths and Realities". http://www.whatnextjournal.co.uk/Pages/History/Cable.html. Workers News. March-April 1994. "1936: Fascists and Police Routed - the Battle of Cable Street". http://libcom.org/library/fascists-and-police-routed-battle-cable-street. September 12, 2005. "Communist Party of Great Britain". http://www.cpgb.org.uk/ |
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Nicole Duddy The mindsets of those in England in the early twentieth century consisted mostly of economic and political concerns-practical matters of everyday life. A few individuals, however, followed a religious movement very bizarre and beyond what others would consider realism. Spiritualism is the belief of communicating with the dead or extra-normal forces through mediums to answer questions or provide guidance. Spiritualism made its way to England in 1852 and was very popular during the Victorian and Edwardian historical eras. The scholar Jenny Hazelgrove notes that it was also popular between the two world wars: "It continued to flourish in the interwar period, given a massive boost by the Great War, which left many people desperately seeking to contact the spirits of loved ones killed in that conflict." One of the most popular icons of the spiritualistic movement was the Planchette, making appearances in A Dance to the Music of Time: The Acceptance World, Anthony Powell's own experiences, and research experiments. What is a Planchette? A Planchette is a heart shaped little board equipped with two rollers and a pencil or pen. To use it, one lightly rests his/her fingers on the wooden surface, and the system "[moves] without deliberate agency" (AW, 91). The board acts as the medium between the users and the spiritual world by automatic writing. Exactly how does one practice automatic writing? Automatic writing is performed by following these instructions: • Find a quiet spot without distractions. • Sit at a table or desk with paper and pen (or pencil). Take a few moments to clear your mind. • Touch the pen or pencil to the paper and try not to consciously write anything. • While keeping your mind as clear as possible, let your hand write whatever comes across. • Avoid looking at the paper; you might even keep your eyes closed. • Give it time to happen (nothing might happen for quite a while). • When it seems to be done, if and when automatic writing does occur, look over what your hand has produced. The writing may appear to be nonsense or just scribbling, but try to decipher it as best as possible. • In addition to letters and numbers, look for pictures or symbols in the writing as well. • If you start to achieve success, you can try asking questions to see if you can receive responses. What do the results look like? Powell describes the writing to be in "long and sloping, Victorian in character," (AW, 94). Thomas Barkworth observes in his experiments "the manner in which [words were] written was a curiosity. So florid was all this scroll work that it took much care to find afterward what route the pencil had taken, though the word was entirely legible." At the Templers' party, Jean brings out the Planchette to give the group something to do. Among the group are advocates and critics of spiritualism. Mona and Stripling jump at the chance to give it a try despite the disapproval of Mrs. Erdleigh, and Nick is excited to try the Planchette, since he says, "Although I had often heard of Planchette, I had never, as it happened, seen the board in operation; and I felt some curiosity myself to discover whether its writings would indeed set down some of the surprising disclosures occasionally described by persons in the habit of playing with it" (AW, 91). Quiggin finds the whole idea preposterous, since he is "plainly annoyed, even rather insulted" (AW, 92). After several goes, Quiggin becomes very frustrated and panicky as a result of the responses which claim to come from Karl Marx. "Marx, of course, Marx,' said Quiggin testily, but perhaps wavering in his belief that I was responsible for faking the writing. `Das Kapital… The Communist Manifesto…It was quite obvious that one of you was rigging the thing… I suspect it was Nick, as he is the only one who knows I am a practicing Marxist…'" To this Peter Templer jokes, "You can't accuse a fellow guest of cheating at Planchette. Duels have been fought for less" (AW, 96-97). Powell, in his memoirs, recalls his own account with a Planchette: "Lambert was always interested in the Occult of any form, but Wyndham Lloyd, as a man of science, disapproved of planchette or any other frivolous contacts with the extra-sensory…Suddenly the Planchette began to move, then to write. The `influence' announced itself as Mozart. `Enquire who was his favorite mistress.' `La petite Carlotta ... A Napoli en 1789.' The statements about la petite Carlotta were noted down, and in due course Lambert looked up the story of Mozart's life to see if the name occurred there. These efforts were unproductive, except in establishing that Mozart could not possibly have been in Naples on whatever date was specified." In 1891, a research experiment was conducted with a young girl referred to as subject C. The responses varied in accuracy, but on occasion the answers to the questions were astonishing: "Q. Tell me something I don't know. A. You have a shot in your eye. On examination, I found a small blood-speck on the margin of the iris on one eye. This, C assured me, she had no idea existed. Q. What is Frank Headley's address? (an old friend) A. Lord Mayor's-walk. [Later on] she ascertained that Frank Headley went to school in Lord Mayor's-walk. Q. Divide 187,981 by 13. A. 14,463. This is wrong by three only, and, considering the normal powers of the operator, I think it a somewhat remarkable answer." Many skeptics of spiritualism rely on proposed scientific explanations to discredit the talking boards. The most accepted and supported explanation is ideomotor action. This is "the influence of suggestion in modifying and directing muscular movement, independently of volition." Furthermore, "wherever a movement unhesitatingly and immediately follows upon the idea of it, we have ideomotor action. We are then aware of nothing between the conception and the execution… We think the act, and it is done; and that is all that introspection tells us of the matter." Those who rest their fingers on the Planchette are convinced that they are not the source of its movement and hence credit unknown forces or spirits. Those convinced of being immune to ideomotor muscular movement by being aware of its existence and effects are delusion in the sense that even honest, intelligent people can unconsciously engage in muscular activity. After conducting his trials with subject C, Barkworth hypothesized, "In automatic writing we are confronted at once with a mysterious intelligent agency operating without the conscious will or mental participation of the writer, but subject, as I am inclined to think, to suggestion in the highest degree." This suggestion is our own memory. In the case of subject C, it is probably that she had at some time seen shot in eye in her looking-glass when her mind was occupied with other matters. The explanation suggested for the young man's address is that, when he met her two years previously, he had mentioned [where he went to school] and she had forgotten it. Planchette, however, was unable to give the number of Lord Mayor's-walk, which perhaps he had never told her. At the Templers' party, perhaps Nick did at sometime hear that Quiggin was a Marxist, but failed to recognize this bygone memory as it appeared on the paper. Despite rational explanations, the Planchette brings out excitement and mystery among the whole party, even Quiggin, who's "temper seemed to have moved from annoyance, mixed with contempt, to a kind of general uneasiness" (AW, 98). When Powell used the Planchette, perhaps "la petite Carlotta" referred to the love of opera-writer and dancer Jules Perrot. Perrot met Carlotta Grisi in Naples early 1896. The date do not correspond to the one said by the Planchette but who's to say that it wasn't the mistake of someone among the group? Despite these various explanations, nothing can prevent the excitement and mystery which spiritualism provides people. Perhaps it takes more than scientific reasoning to convince people that there aren't forces beyond our understanding. The Planchette never fails to intrigue critics and believers alike, even among the world of Dance, old and young, rich and poor, educated and not. To those still convinced of the presence of spirits and the Occult, it would be useful to take into consideration the English translation of the French word "planchette,"-"little prank." What will you believe? "Planchette." Wikipedia. (October, 2007). www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planchette "Spiritualism Movement." Encyclopedia of Death and Dying. 2007. Google. (5 Nov. 2007). http://www.deathreference.com/Sh-Sy/Spiritualism-Movement.html Barkworth, Thomas. "Recent Experiments in Automatic Writing," Science, Vol. 17, No. 436. New York, New York, (June. 12, 1891), pp. 323-325. www.jstor.org Hyman, Ray PhD. "How People are Fooled by Ideomotor Action," The Scientific Review of Alternative Medicine. Prometheus Books, (Fall-Winter 1999). www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/ideomotor.html Powell, Anthony. The Memoirs of Anthony Powell, Volume II: Messengers of Day. Holt, Rinehart and Winston. New York, New York. (1978). Powell, Anthony. A Dance to the Music of Time: The Acceptance World. The University of Chicago Press. United States of America, (1983). Richardson, Joanna. Rev. of Jules Perrot, Master of the Romantic Ballet, by Ivor Guest. Dance Research: the Journal of the Society of Dance Research (1985): 65-68. www.jstor.org Wagner, Stephen. "How to Practice Automatic Writing." About.Com: Paranormal Phenomena. 2007. New York Times Company. (5 Nov. 2007). < |
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Jimmy Yang The Acceptance World completes the first movement of Anthony Powell's A Dance to the Music of Time. At the end of the first three books, we have seen the boys of Nick Jenkins' childhood grow into different people, in many ways people that we have not expected them to. The Old Boy dinner, which we see at the end of the third book, shows us many of these changes by bringing the boys who were the focus of Powell's earlier books back together among other men who went to Eton in their earlier days, as well as their old housemaster Le Bas. It is almost as though these men step back into another world that they left many years ago. The Old Boy dinner and the boys' housemaster Le Bas serve as memories to a time long past to the boys. They serve as memories that, in many ways, will never be returned to. Le Bas is a living memory of the boys' time at Eton. "He had become, if not history, at least a part of one's own autobiography. In his infinitely ancient dinner-jacket and frayed tie he looked, as usual, wholly unchanged." (AW, 180) There was a power Le Bas once held over the boys at Eton, as housemaster. Yet, with that power, came a sort of bond between the boys. The Braddock alias Thorne incident was one example of that bond, as Stringham engineered the event for the entertainment of Templer, Jenkins, and himself, at Le Bas' expense. Without that bond, the relationship between the boys begins to disintegrate, and they slowly drift away from one another, with only a chance acquaintance, such as this dinner to bring them back together. Perhaps the most notable scene in the Old Boy dinner is the series of speeches begun by Le Bas. Le Bas' speech sounds like the sort of speech he might deliver as a housemaster: long, drawn out, and with uses of poetry that we might expect from Le Bas. The speech also evokes a response we might expect from a group of schoolboys, most evident in the restrained laughter of the men. Yet despite this attempt for the boys of Le Bas' house to go back to things as they once were, the fact is that they have all been unavoidably drawn apart. Peter Templer is the first old friend that Nick meets on his way to the Old Boy dinner. Templer in some ways is a man trying to hold on to the past. "Templer, like a Frenchman, wore a white waistcoat with his dinner-jacket, a fashion of the moment." (AW, 170) As when he was younger, Templer is still as well-dressed as ever, looking like, in Stringham's words, "an advertisement for gents' tailoring." (QU, 30) He still attempts to be the clever, charming young man he was in his Eton days. Even though he says that he's really come to see Widmerpool, he gets caught up in the nostalgia, jeering at Widmerpool during his speech, and missing his opportunity to meet with him. But there are changes that he has made since his schooldays which he cannot avoid, and those changes keep him from truly returning to his youth. He and Stringham became distant after the car crash in A Question of Upbringing. His wife has also recently eloped, a surprise since Templer was the first one of the boys to be with a woman. Stringham takes a different path for his nostalgia. He enters the party completely drunk. He, like Templer, seems to dwell somewhat on the past. During the party, he makes Widmerpool impressions as he used to, and after the party, when he is with Nick, he reflects with him on their days at Eton. He also reflects on a more recent time, when he was still married to his wife. "She has married an awfully nice chap. Peggy is a really lucky girl now. A really charming chap…a relation of hers, too. He will be already faimiliar with all those lovely family jokes of the Stepney family, those very amusing jokes. He will not have to have the points explained to him…" (AW, 199) But he, like Templer, is inevitably bound to the present as it is. Just as Mona left Templer, Peggy Stepney has left Stringham. Further, while he and Templer give small signals to one another during the dinner, and while he reminisces on Templer after the dinner to Jenkins, their friendship is inevitably broken. As we saw at the end of A Question of Upbringing, there is a gap between them that cannot be closed. Widmerpool, unlike Nick's other two friends, is a man who seems much better off since his days at school. While still awkward to Jenkins in his own right, he has begun to make his way in the world. He has passed through the ranks of the Donners-Brebner company, moving above and beyond into the Acceptance World. Yet, at the Old Boy dinner, none of that makes a great impression on the men there, who are trying to hold on to the past. "However successful Widmerpool might have become in his own eyes, he was not yet important in the eyes of those present. He remained a nonentity, perhaps even an oddity, remembered only because he had once worn the wrong sort of overcoat." (AW, 191) As his speech drags on, Templer makes snide remarks, Stringham performs his classic Widmerpool impressions, and many others are trying to keep their attention on him. At the Old Boy dinner, Widmerpool is surrounded by men who have their heads in the sand, holding to old impressions of him that are out of date. The response that he receives from the crowd for his long speech might very well have been received while he was at Eton. Only Le Bas' stroke is able to snap his audience back into the present. The Old Boy dinner comes to a rather abrupt end during Widmerpool's speech. Le Bas' stroke is a symbol of how Jenkins', as well as Stringham's, Templer's, and Widmerpool's boyhoods have truly come to an end. Just as Le Bas is a symbol of those memories, his injury symbolizes how those memories have grown old and should be let go. They are the last links to a part of Nick's life that he is now beginning to leave behind. His friends are changing around him, and he too must change with them. |
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Corey Simpson By this point in the series, it has been well established that Nick Jenkins is a narrator with a tendency to overanalyze. He prefaces the introduction of any new acquaintance with a detailed description of that person's appearance and mannerisms, and uses this as a basis for an impossibly deep analysis of their thoughts and motivations. Nick's ability to leap to conclusions on the smallest shreds of evidence is unmatched-until he encounters Myra Erdleigh in The Acceptance World. In previous books, what we know about Nick's character is gathered piece-by-piece from scattered situations and assembled, clumsily, into a picture with obvious holes. Nick never gives the reader the benefit of a self-analysis as complete as the scrutiny he gives his friends, and our forced reliance on his narration makes it difficult to establish an objective view of his personality. Mrs. Erdleigh, however, although she does not exactly have an aura of credibility, manages to compile what we know of Nick into a blunt summary that Nick would certainly never have given us himself. Mrs. Erdleigh's fortune telling begins unconvincingly: she asks first, "You are musical?" (14) Nick has never shown any inclinations in that area, and this mistake does not encourage faith in Mrs. Erdleigh's abilities. She then moves on to "Then you write-I think you have written a book?" (14) This is slightly more impressive, although it still does not prove Mrs. Erdleigh to have anything more than a good memory and access to a bookshop. After establishing Nick's identity, however, Mrs. Erdleigh's observations become both accurate and personal. She says: "You live between two worlds," (14) which could be a literal reference to the different social circles in which Nick moves, or a comment on his inability to abandon his idealized world for the real one. She then says, "You are thought cold," (14) which seems likely considering Nick's detachment and the often ruthless analyses we sometimes see him perform, and the quote recalls Gypsy's somewhat less formal comment in A Buyer's Market: "Why are you so stuck up?" (249, ABM) Next comes, "you possess deep affections, sometimes for people worthless in themselves." (14-15) This we know to be true-Barbara comes to mind as a clear example of Nick's tendency to let his misapprehensions about love cloud his judgment, and his inexplicable attachment to Uncle Giles is representative of his stubborn loyalty to friends with little personal merit. Mrs. Erdleigh's assertion that "often you are at odds with those who might help you," (15) is less clear. Nick, though he may privately dislike some people, rarely admits it, and has no openly hostile relationships. On the other hand, at this point he has no especially close relationships, either, and no one he might truly rely upon for "help." There is also the conviction of many of his acquaintances that Nick has a dead-end job, and any attempts that are made to "help" him find a better one are met with a stubborn refusal to accept that anything is wrong with publishing art books. Then Mrs. Erdleigh says, "You like women, and they like you, but you often find the company of men more amusing." (15) This is one of Nick's great weaknesses, though it is not to say that he finds women uninteresting; rather, he takes potential love too seriously to really enjoy the company of women, and one of his chief amusements-character analysis-works best when he understands the minds involved, which he certainly does not when they are female. "You expect too much, and yet you are also too resigned" (15) highlights Nick's curious blend of idealism and cynicism, which is almost always evident in his narration. "You must try to understand life" (15) is Nick's personal commandment put into words for the first time-in everything he does, he is ultimately trying to understand, on every level, what is really happening in the world around him. Then Mrs. Erdleigh delivers the lesson, telling Nick, even if he does not realize it, what it is that he must understand about life: "People can only be themselves. If they possessed the qualities you desire in them, they would be different people." (15) Mrs. Erdleigh finishes with the admonition that Nick "must make a greater effort in life," (15) to which he replies, "I can see that," (15) another echo of his previous conversation with Gypsy, where she says of his attitude, "you ought to fight it" (249, ABM) and he retorts, "I can't see why." (249, ABM) Gypsy's earlier analysis of Nick's character was far shorter and considerably harsher, and he accepts Mrs. Erdleigh's opinions with better grace. Though at the time Nick listens to Mrs. Erdleigh with careful attention, he later says that he found her fortune telling "credible enough, including the character sketch, though perhaps not very interesting" (16) and he "was not greatly struck by the insight she had shown." (16) Within a few days she has "passed from [his] mind," (18) and he does not immediately recognize her when encountering her at the Templers' a year later. These mental dismissals of the entire incident indicate that Mrs. Erdleigh's message is something that Nick would prefer to leave unexamined; seemingly unaffected on any deeper level, he continues in his familiar patterns of behavior throughout the remainder of the book. But perhaps in the future Nick's preoccupation with love and his blindness to his deeper flaws will fade long enough to allow him to see that Mrs. Erdleigh has given him more than just cheap entertainment. |
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Andy Clay In the real world, mysticism and fortunetellers are seen as outlandish and nonsensical. In Anthony Powell's Acceptance World, however, Mrs. Erdleigh's fortunetelling helps the reader see into Nick's future. In the opening chapter of the novel, Mrs. Erdleigh predicts Uncle Giles and Nicks' futures. While her predictions for Uncle Giles are seemingly meaningless, to Nick and the reader at least, Mrs. Erdleigh's predictions for Nick are precise and relevant to the plot of A Dance to the Music of Time. Mrs. Erdleigh's mysticism is legitimized as an accepted form of fortunetelling when one of her predictions for Nick comes true. Furthermore, Mrs. Erdleigh's fortunetelling serves to provide insight into Nick's character. In the opening scene of The Acceptance World, Nick visits his Uncle Giles at a local hotel known as the Ufford. Nick is surprised when a fortuneteller named Mrs. Erdleigh, whose relationship with Uncle Giles is unclear, joins him and his Uncle for tea. Mrs. Erdleigh "asks the cards about" Uncle Giles and then Nick (AW, 10). When Mrs. Erdleigh lays out the cards for Nick, she sees "a much more important lady - medium hair…and I think you have run across her once or twice before, though not recently" (AW, 15). To the reader, it is surprising that Nick does not realize initially who Mrs. Erdleigh is most likely talking about - Jean Templer. Mrs. Erdleigh continues by saying, "But there seems to be another man interested, too. He might even be a husband. You don't like him much. He is tallish, I should guess. Fair, possibly red hair. In business. Often goes abroad" (AW, 15). To the reader, it is clear that Mrs. Erdleigh is talking about Jean and her marriage to Bob Duport, a person Nick is not fond of. Mrs. Erdleigh's description of Duport is similar to the one Nick gives when he first meets him at Oxford in A Question of Upbringing. At that time, Nick described Duport as, "thin and tall, with sandy hair" (AQU, 190). To the reader and Powell himself, it is obvious that Nick will have a relationship with Jean in the near future. At the end of A Buyer's Market, Nick states, "Certain stages of experience might be compared with the game of Russian billiards…as I used to play with Jean, when the time came" (ABM, 274). Though Mrs. Erdleigh does not foretell any specifics of Jean and Nick's relationship, her divination also foreshadows a relationship that occurs in the proceeding events of The Acceptance World. In addition to her divination about Nick's love life, Mrs. Erdleigh also predicts an affair that will cause Nick's firm trouble. "`There is a small matter in your business that is going to cause inconvenience,' she went on. `It has to do with an elderly man - and two young ones connected with him'" (AW, 16). In contrast to Mrs. Erdleigh's first divination for Nick, her second prediction is unclear to the reader. Nick comments that the "matter" might relate to his "firm's growing difficulties regarding St. John Clarke's introduction to The Art of Horace Isbister. The elderly men would be St. John Clarke and Isbister themselves ... and the young one was, of course, St. John Clarke's secretary, Mark Members" (AW, 16). The matter that Mrs. Erdleigh predicts has not yet occurred. As a result, Nick is too quick to assume that Mrs. Erdleigh mistakenly meant two elderly men. In actuality, Nick's firm will be inconvenienced by St. John Clarke, the elderly man, and his two young secretaries - Mark Members and J.G. Quiggin. Again, Mrs. Erdleigh's second divination foreshadows events that occur later on in the novel. Nick, like most people, however, is skeptical of fortunetelling. After she predicts trouble for his firm, Nick comments that Mrs. Erdleigh "might be en rapport with my firm's growing regarding difficulties regarding St. John Clarke…Such a trivial comment, mixed with a few home truths of a personal nature, provide ... the commonplaces for fortunetelling" (AW, 16). As a result, Nick obviously does not initially believe that Mrs. Erdleigh's predictions will come true. In addition to predicting Nick's future, Mrs. Erdleigh reveals to the reader several of Nick's character traits. Beginning her divination, Mrs. Erdleigh says to Nick, "You live between two worlds... Perhaps even more than two worlds" (AW, 14). The idea that Nick has two lives is recurrent throughout the novel up to this point. On one hand, Nick is an art historian and writer - two low paying jobs. On the other hand, he spends most of his social life with members of the British aristocracy, such as Charles Stringham and Peter Templer. Mrs. Erdleigh continues by telling Nick, "you possess deep affections, sometimes for people worthless in themselves" (AW, 15). Mrs. Erdleigh is most likely suggesting Barbara, who could certainly be described as "worthless." However, Mrs. Erdleigh may also be suggesting Jean, whom Nick has the deepest affections for. Jean's handling of men and multiple affairs make her appear scandalous and immoral despite Nick's portrayal of her, which is obviously biased by his love for her. To Nick, Mrs. Erdleigh's fortunetelling is nonsensical and amusing, at best. Over the course of The Acceptance World, however, Mrs. Erdleigh's predictions come true, thus legitimizing fortunetelling as an acceptable practice in the novel. In contrast to Nick, Mrs. Erdleigh's divinations come across a reliable form of prediction to the reader. Mrs. Erdleigh reveals future events in Nick's life that the reader has already suspected will happen. In addition, Mrs. Erdleigh confirms certain traits evident in Nick's character that the reader has continually attributed to him over the course of A Dance to the Music of Time. She does this only having just met him. Hence, it is clear that any fortunetelling or mysticism later on in the novel should be seen as legitimate and reliable. |
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Nathaniel Miller In The Acceptance World, by Anthony Powell, the author St. John Clarke hires and fires his secretary based upon his political views and his desire to control his own life. At the beginning of the novel, Mark Members, a relatively mainstream liberal, assists St. John. Members is very practical in his service, keeping out old friends begging for money and maneuvering around social annoyances. In the process of interesting St. John in the wider world, he introduces Quiggin as a friend. Quiggin, a Marxist, becomes St. John's secretary after converting him to Marxism, though not before St. John discovers that Members lied to him. Quiggin takes him out to a demonstration in support of the Hunger Marchers, where they meet a young German Trotskyist named Guggenbühl. Guggenbühl takes advantage of a short absence of Quiggin's to convert St. John to Trotskyism, and becomes his third and final secretary of the novel after an argument between St. John and Quiggin about Quiggin's future wife, Mona. This transformation provides a great amount of insight into St. John. Beginning as a spendthrift celebrity author with weak political beliefs, St. John swiftly becomes a revolutionary spendthrift celebrity author, at the whims of his secretaries as he attempts to control them. Members is a good fit for the early St. John. He is, if not an aristocrat, certainly comfortable in their company, which the early St. John frequented. He was able to keep out those St. John would not have wanted to see, or, at the least, would not have benefited by seeing. "He could cut short the beery protests of some broken-down crony of the novelist's past, arrived unexpectedly…Alternatively, the matter to be regulated might be the behaviour of some great lady" (120-121,AW). Members is also acutely aware of his employer's ill health and takes great pains to avoid any activities that would endanger it. St. John's political views of this time, which Members seems to have had almost complete control over, are described by Nick as, "`Liberal of the most old fashioned kind," (126, AW). Members then admits that he wrote the article expressing these views for St. John, although this apparently had nothing to do with the sincerity or lack thereof in St. John's opinions. Member's dismissal follows his unexcused absence from a communist political lecture he told St. John would attend. Ironically, Members goes to work for a communist printing press after leaving St. John. The early manifestations of Quiggin's conversion of St. John to Marxism included his heavy use of the word "bourgeois" as well as interest in the "European situation" (AW, 122) and some political activities. After Members departs and Quiggin arrives, this indoctrination intensifies. Quiggin is by far the more active politically, though he does not write nearly as much as Members. He and St. John begin attending more lectures together and even a few marches. Members sees one of these marches and complains that, "the strain may easily kill St. J" (130, AW). Quiggin has also delegated the task of pushing the wheelchair to Mona, a job Members might have taken on personally. Quiggin is less adept at meeting St. John's other needs as well, being less well adjusted to the life of the aristocrats and intellectuals of London than Members. Quiggin's "North Country inflection" (179, QU) stands out as less cultured. He convinces St. John to devote ever more time to politics and Marxism. "St. John Clarke's every action was now expressed in Marxist terms, as if some political Circe had overnight turned the novelist into an entirely Left Wing animal" (115, AW). A short time later, Quiggin abruptly leaves St. John after his relationship with Mona Templer becomes unacceptable to the novelist. Shortly thereafter Quiggin publishes his first book, Unburnt Boats, which was long overdue. After Quiggin's departure, a young German named Guggenbühl becomes St. John's new secretary. A Trotskyist, Guggenbühl's English is far from perfect, but he does not let that stop him from voicing his opinions. A playwright, he dismisses the Moscow Art Theatre as, "just to tolerate" (166, AW) because of insufficient adherence to Trotskyism. He finds only what he calls, "the modern ethico-social play" (AW, 166) to be worth his time. As a Trotskyist, he also believes in immediate revolution, though he seems more inclined to discuss this idea than to carry it out. Instead, he spends a good portion of his time with Milly Andriadis, a wealthy socialite, before converting St. John to Trotskyism. Guggenbühl is also the least interested in attending parties of the three secretaries. When a small group shows up to Mrs. Andriadis's, he is said to have brought, "an atmosphere of peculiar unfriendliness and disquiet into the room" (168, AW), ignoring the company as best he can. St. John Clarke's opinions and preferences mimic those of his secretaries in a way that suggests he is not entirely in control of himself. It is difficult for him to make new friends, a favorite activity, when he is inside all day, as Members might prefer for the good of his health. "`Unmade friends are like unmade beds…they should be attended to early in the morning,'" (AW, 125) Members quotes him as saying. This leads to his invitation to Quiggin to keep him company at his apartment when Members is not around, and later his similar invitation to Guggenbühl when Quiggin is not around. St. John, easily persuaded to novel political views, drifts towards the newcomer's viewpoint, revealing his almost apolitical past. Conveniently for St. John's immediate interests, his later secretaries are less concerned with his health, giving him freer reign to attend marches or lectures than Members would have, a measure of control that he did not want earlier. St. John is willing to allow his secretaries to make these radical changes to his politics as long as they are otherwise under his control. |
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