|
Erica Bakies Throughout my experiences as a Dance reader, I have come to understand Nick, for the most part, as a non-partisan party in situations. He can be counted on to give very accurate descriptions of what people say and do without actually engaging his own gossip into the situation. However, the one person that this does not hold true for is Bob Duport. For as long as I can remember, and as long as discussions have ranged back, my understand has been that Nick thoroughly despises Duport. However, my own personal opinion has not been affected by Nick's hostile feelings and I think it is because I have never met Jean, obviously a person very important and influential in his life. I have never known Nick's passion for her or the situations he was in with her which created this ultimate hatred for Bob Duport. I actually like Duport and sympathize with him. I first met Duport at the Bellvue Hotel when Nick picked up Uncle Giles' belongings in The Kindly Ones. There, Duport was hiding out from creditors in a business deal gone bad (because of who else but Widmerpool). I saw a man who had been up and down in fortune, in family, and in life. He was trying to get over his wife having cheated on him (little did he know about Nick at the time) and avoid this bad business deal and the creditors after him. While Nick felt repugnant, I felt compassion and concern for a man who was clearly down-in-the-dumps. Of course, I understood Nick's position. He was in love with another man's wife, and through her husband found out that she'd been cheating on him with her husband and a third man. Nick should feel contempt for Duport, but I actually see Nick at fault. He was the one who seduced/let himself be seduced by a woman who was in a committed relationship. For the first time since picking up the Dance, I felt distaste for Nick, not the character he was interacting with. Despite this initial revulsion by Nick for Duport, Nick's thoughts seem to relax a bit. I think that Nick was coming around to seeing the situation from Duport's position, because the next time he sees Duport is in the war in The Military Philosophers. There, over a drink again, Duport brings the bad news of the death of Nick's dear friend, Peter Templer. Nick seems to not care that the information was delivered via a person he presumably doesn't like. Instead, he questions the accuracy of such information as if not being able to believe Templer's death. In addition, he also jokes with Nick about his happenings since Jean, divulging a little bit too much information about conquests such as Pamela Flitton. Nick encounters Duport for the last time in Hearing Secret Harmonies. No longer is there disdain for Duport on Nick's behalf. Confined to a wheel chair, which is pushed around by his daughter, Duport seems to be waiting for the end. People say that he is depressed and difficult to deal with. When Nick meets him, he is absolutely miserable and is loosing his memory. While he remembers Nick, he doesn't remember details, like Nick's name. Despite this, he seems thoroughly happy to see Nick and remembers their times in Brussels. Soon, Duport returns to his morbid personality mentioning the fact that Jean's recently deceased husband had it lucky, dying instantly by a gunshot. Personally, I feel more empathy for him than ever before. Nick retreats to his quiet, just-state-the-facts narration, which leads me to believe that Nick has finally come around to understand and, at the bare minimum, tolerate Duport. For the most part, I have gone along with Nick's feelings, or at least hidden feelings in his narration of the stories he weaves about the characters he meets. However, Bob Duport was one character I never followed Nick's feelings on. I always felt sorry for him. First he was loosing his fortune, and then his wife, and eventually his health. I think it was because I had jumped into the Dance late and never had the chance to read about Nick's feelings for Jean for myself. I have had a different reading of the Dance than most, because I started 1/3 of the way through the twelve novels, and in some cases, like in Bob Duport's, I don't have to take Nick's opinion as always true. |
|
Nicole Lee Upon finishing the twelfth and final novel of A Dance To the Music of Time, it is interesting to look back and trace the journeys of various characters to see how they have changed. The only character, other than Nick, who appears in all twelve novels is Widmerpool, one of Nick's classmates at Eton. His character is one to remember, as he goes through many changes throughout the series. Over the course of the year, I have written two other papers discussing the nature of Widmerpool's character. After the first four books, up to At Lady Molly's, I found that Widmerpool is immature and socially awkward in his early years, especially at Eton. In The Kindly Ones, Widmerpool has gained the role of a Territorial officer and, at first glance, seems to have grown into himself and become more responsible. However, he does not come through when Nick asked Widmerpool for help regarding getting a job in the army. This is also the book where Widmerpool sees Gypsy Jones giving a public speech and becomes apparently uncomfortable, as he "walks at a much sharper pace, without any of his former bravura.(288)" He clearly still is filled with many insecurities at this point in the books. The second paper I wrote was after we read the seventh novel, The Valley of Bones. I concluded that during the war years, Widmerpool certainly began a transformation, becoming more assertive and confident. Nick finds Widmerpool in the DAAG office and after a brief interaction, wonders how he used to view Widmerpool "in the disobliging light that seemed too innate since (they) had been at school together…even though he had never possessed anything approaching a warm relationship with Widmerpool. (240)"As the book progresses, we find that he takes this confidence to an overpowering level. He explains his job as, "much more than one man can cope with. It was too much for my predecessor. That was to be expected. Now I thrive on work, but I saw at once that even I must have assistance. (241)" He has no trouble assigning menial duties to Nick and clearly enjoys his position of power. As we continue through the war years, Widmerpool continues to show his lack of heart and emotions. In The Soldier's Art, he finds Stringham and Jenkins trying to help the drunken Bithel and instead of helping, he gets Bithel kicked out of the army. He then has Stringham sent off with the Mobile Laundry, knowing very well that they were headed off to the far east. He does not have many friends left, as he shows no loyalties. In the final book of the war trilogy, Widmerpool becomes engaged to Pamela Flitton. Looking over the course of the whole book, it seems surprising that he would end up with the desired wife, as he was the social outcast at school. However, this is all fits in as part of his cycle of life. In the following novel, Books Do Furnish a Room, Pamela leaves him for X Trapnel. It is questionable at first how Widmerpool will react to this, but although being melodramatic, he stays somewhat calm when he goes to their house. He first informs Trapnel that he should "make a present" of the money he previously loaned him and forget about paying him back. He then states, "You may fear that I am going to institute divorce creedings. Such is not my intention. Pamela will return in her own good time. I think we understand each other.(202)" At this statement, we see a certain sense of confidence in Widmerpool that he never had in his earlier days. In the final book, Hearing Secret Harmonies, Flavia, is speaking with Nick about Widmerpool. She asks, "Did you know Widmerpool?" He responds, "'Yes, I know him. I've known him for years.'" Flavia then sums up his character by saying. " `I said did you know him. Nobody cold know him now…He's gone out of his mind. He lives with a crowd of dreadful people, most of them quite young, who wear extraordinary clothes, and do the most horrible, horrible things.'"(203) This is all true, as Widmerpool seems to have gotten over his power hungry stage and simply gone crazy. Looking back on Widmerpool's successes, failures, joys and disappointments, we see his lifestyle transformed to many different extremes. Starting out as a young, insecure student at Eton, he then somehow became a man of what many could argue, too much power. After his power trip, he got the ideal wife, but suffered from an unstable relationship. Over time, just as Flavia described him, "Widmerpool had become literally impossible to know.(203 HSH)" |
|
Corey Simpson I am fortunate to possess one of the traits most desired by those who love to read; namely, I have the approximate memory retention of a goldfish. This did make my first reading of Dance rather difficult, especially considering Nick's fondness for reintroducing obscure minor characters we haven't seen in decades, but I also have the distinct advantage of being able to reread without growing bored. I've never spent such a long time on one book. Usually I finish something in a day or two at most; this one, however, I've been working on since September. I've read it, I've dissected it, I've analyzed it, and I've listened to papers from my classmates on every possible topic connected with the story. It has become a constant in my life, on a level with other nice things like breathing. And, also like breathing, I can neither remember what it is like to exist without the Dance nor particularly want to find out. Rereading it won't be quite the same, of course. Forgetful I may be, but I'll never again be able to read A Question of Upbringing and think that the rest of the series will focus on the friendship between Stringham, Templer, and Nick. I'll never be able to really pity Widmerpool again, though I did in the beginning. Knowing what I know now, I won't think that Nick's romance with Jean is quite so adorable. But I will know the characters and their quirks, and I will be as pleased to see them again as I would any other old friend. To be sure, I'll need some time before I return. I'll need time to properly forget before I can take pleasure in remembering. Most importantly, I need to take a break, because at present I relate everything in my life to Dance and I think my friends will mutiny if I don't stop doing it soon. You know you've been reading too much of it if your own astrological sign now distresses you with its distasteful connections to the slimy Murtlock, if you can't think of the Seven Deadly Sins without a giggle, if you've made a mental note never to name any of your children "Pamela," or if your thoughts tend to run to page-long sentences of ridiculously elaborate prose. But these are minor concerns, and will no doubt fade with time. I find that I am far more worried about the implications of another Dance reflex I've developed recently, which threatens to become a permanent affliction. I am hesitant to disclose it because I have reason to believe it is contagious, but I think it better that you learn it from me than to realize it in horror while flipping through the radio stations. In short, my friends, this book has changed us, and you will remember it every time you hear the opening notes of the Def Leppard song "Pour Some Sugar On Me" and think instantly, automatically, of Widmerpool. |
|
Cassidy Carpenter Robert Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy first appears in Anthony Powell's Books Do Furnish a Room and makes up the penultimate paragraph of the Dance. It seems that Anthony Powell picked this quote from the first five pages of t\The Anatomy of Melancholy because it references numerous events that occur throughout the series. It is interesting to think whether Powell referenced this section of the book before or after the events in his novel occurred but it is probable that Powell chose this quote because its descriptions can fit almost anyone's life. For connoisseurs of The Dance, through Burton's references to prodigies, apparitions, Poland, peace, pamphlets, funerals, and New Lords and officers, make us think of very specific moments throughout Nick's life that will always be a part of our own. A prodigy that Nick encounters has excelled at the violin since a very young age. Of course this mysterious musician is Carolo. If we start at the point where Nick meets Carolo in Casanova's Chinese Restaurant and chooses select words as they progress through the selection from The Anatomy of Melancholy. The occurrences in the book seem to mirror the references in the quote chronologically. In The Kindly Ones Nick recalls an apparition seen by Billson during his childhood. Though out of order in his life it does follow the order at which the reader comes upon this information. Burton talks of "cities besieged, in France, Germany, Turkey, Persia, and Poland" (HSH 271). Nicks' travels first take him to France in a year abroad, but Nick directly experiences the destabilization of these countries when WWII breaks out. Peace which seemed unobtainable as the war drudged on for three whole books, finally came in The Military Philosophers. Nick is able to return home to his loving wife Isobel and his sons. Though slightly out of order in relation to the book, Burton's reference to pamphlets reminds us of the time at the beginning of the war when Nick and Widmerpool run into Gypsy Jones as she stands preaching on top of a soap box handing out political pamphlets at the end of The Kindly Ones. Widmerpool scuttles away scared that he might be associated with his former left-wing revolutionary love interest. A common occurrence in post-war life for Nick is his attending funerals. An incredibly memorable funeral is Erridge Toland's in Books Do Furnish A Room. Nick recalled this as a time when "as so often on such occasions, the sharp contrast between life and death was emphasized" (BDFR 41). This brutal reality that everyone must face in their own lifetime is forced to the forefront of the reader's mind as they follow Nick along his own journey. Burton's reference to "New Lords and officers" can only mean one person to Dance lovers, the infamous Widmerpool (HSH 272). We watched Widmerpool shed his conspicuous trench coat, root himself into a military uniform, and spread his seeds as a life member of Parliament. The transformation of Widmerpool has been one that has always been observed under a critical eye. Now that Widmerpool has fallen from such high grace Nick is able to use his literary knowledge to triumph over his former classmate. In The Anatomy Burton says, "he thrives, his neighbor turns bankrupt; now plenty, then again dearth and famine; one runes, another rides, wrangles, laughs, weeps" (HSH 272). This seesaw battle for power is mimicked in the relationship between Nick and Widmerpool, but in the end our beloved narrator ends up on top. This competitive relationship is a common ground in everyone's life that Nick uses as a baseline in every book throughout the series to tie the reader in emotionally to his story. Every word in the excerpt from Burton may not have such an intimate meaning with the book as these, but it is their generality that helps make The Dance so applicable to all of our lives. We all have our Widmerpools and we can only hope we are lucky enough to have our Isobels. These names become archetypes for characters for people we will meet throughout our lives. Powell's use of Burton's writings at the end of his series accentuates the extent of Powell's literary knowledge and his ability to use language to evoke emotion from books past. It is a true gift that Powell has written such a powerful series that can be so easily translated among such different walks of life. |