A Dance to the Music of Time

The twelve novels that make up A Dance to the Music of Time

by Anthony Powell

Yesterday's presentation at the Monday Afternoon Club was another one involving a book, or I should say books. The topic for the January and February papers is "Great Journeys of the Past". This week's presenter chose to look at the fictional journey through life of Nicholas Jenkins, the narrator of twelve novels known collectively as A Dance to the Music of Time. 

Written by Anthony Powell (who was Welsh so his name is pronounced POHL), the novels were published between 1951 and 1975 and depict life between World War I and just after World War II. 

I would have liked to have heard a bit more about Mr. Powell (1905-2000), but the presenter quoted a lot from the books which I found to be tedious. Not the author's words, just the being read to...

Anyway, as luck would have it, after the meeting (which is held in the community room of a branch library) I was browsing through the branch's DVD collection and, lo and behold, there were the first three recordings of the 1997 television series based on the books and produced by Britain's Channel Four.

Well, I can tell you I snapped up all three of them up and am ready to settle in for a couple of nights and 'watch' the novels. I have the fourth and final DVD on request and it should be available by time I get to that point in the series. It will be fun to watch the characters flit around from upper class party to picnic in their tuxedos!

I know this is sort of cheating, but so be it. The idea of 3000 pages for the twelve novels seems a bit daunting! For now, I think I will simply watch the DVDs and read a biography of Mr. Powell. I see that he also published his memoirs and journals.

Has anyone read the entire A Dance to the Music of Time or even one or two of the volumes? 

Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville

/Alexis de Tocqueville

Yesterday's presentation at the Monday Afternoon Club was on the journey of Alexis de Tocqueville and Gustave de Beaumont around what there was of America in 1831-32.

The journey took nine months and the two young men, they were both in their twenties, traveled thousands of miles by horseback, steamboat, stagecoach, and on foot. They visited 17 out of the 24 states in the Union, including a brief stop here in Louisville. 

Unfortunately, the two men were traveling down the Ohio River from Cincinnati on a steamboat in December and the river soon was blocked by ice. The passengers were cast off onto shore and the two fellows had to walk the final 22 miles to get here. 

The upshot of the journey - at once one both physical and intellectual - was Tocqueville's Democracy in America. 

This 1000-page book is not one that I have read, but it has intrigued me as it is often quoted (and most likely misquoted). The presenter of the paper said her father first read it at the age of 80 and thereafter read it multiple times. So it is never too late.

If you are interested, there is an abridged version (208 pages) and a couple of different Kindle versions which would be easier to lug around than that unabridged paperback edition. 

Is Democracy in America on anyone's TBR list? Or has anyone read it? Chime in...

Monday Afternoon Club: Come, Tell Me How You Live

My presentation yesterday for the Monday Afternoon Club on Victorian archaeologists went very well. I profiled four 'ladies in the field': Amelia Edwards, Zelia Nuttall, Jane Dieulafoy, and Agatha Christie. 

There is something to be said for researching, writing, and then presenting a paper to a group of like-minded women. All the members of the club are life-long readers and each one has a lively interest in intellectual pursuits. 

I find that actually having to 'perform' in front of an audience is so much more fulfilling than the times in school when term papers were simply handed in to the teacher and then received back with a grade. Somehow having to think about how my audience might respond to the information I am writing makes for a tighter and more entertaining paper.

I have come a long way since the time I was in a fourth-grade talent show and kept my eyes closed the entire time I was on stage thinking - with my elementary-school brain - that if I couldn't see the audience then they couldn't see me!

Over the years I have learned some tricks that make speaking in front of an audience less terrifying than my early school year experiences. Yes, I did keep my eyes open! As a matter of fact, getting to share with the group the intriguing ideas and information that I have come across in my research is truly the best part - the frosting on the cake!

Thanks for your comments and for sending me your well wishes for this project.

Hmmm. Now, what do I want to research for next year's paper?

In Which, Thank Heavens, You Can't Tell a Book By Its Cover

Agatha Christie in the Middle East
Photo source: The British Museum

In preparation for my research paper on Ladies in the Field, female archaeologists of the Victorian era (here), I began reading Come, Tell Me How You Live by Agatha Christie.

It was published in 1946 and recounts the adventures with her husband, archaeologist Max Mallowan, in Syria and Iraq in the 1930s.

Although I have read many of Christie's mysteries, my knowledge of her life is spotty at best, so I am getting to know her a bit.

I am surprised at how funny the writing is and am so enjoying it. Ms. Christie, although not formally educated in archaeology, nevertheless is fascinated with the findings at the digs - pots, jewelry, and sometimes bones - long buried in the sand. She helps out by cleaning pieces in between murdering characters on the page at her typewriter.

It is written more in the form of a journal and the immediacy of that style is very appealing. There is more about the people and the culture and the mishaps than any sort of long-ago history of the places they stay. It is quite an eye-opening account into the area and I can't imagine putting myself in the middle of the desert with its many hardships - which she seems to take very well...most of the time. She does reach her limit with mice, though.

My big complaint is that the physical book is absolute junk. The text looks as if the publisher (William Morrow) simply photocopied the pages in an original edition and printed them. The words are fuzzy on the page. There are some black and white photographs included and they are pretty much just a blur. Not at all helpful.

The paper itself is so soft and woody that my pencil pushes through it when I underline or mark any place names or particular descriptions for my research. (That is another thing - I hate marking in books but I see no way around it this time!)

The cover is of that smooshy sort - soft and flimsy. It is creepy to hold it feels so, well, smooshy.

I am very disappointed in the quality of the edition. The cost of the book should have been four dollars instead of fourteen!

Shame on you William Morrow.

In Which I Make Preparations to Dig

Max Mallowan and Agatha Christie
Archeaologists

I belong to a local organization - the Monday Afternoon Club - which has as its mission "the encouragement of culture among women". It was founded in 1887. It meets in a community room at the library from October to April.  We begin the year with a very civilized tea complete with silver tea service at a member's home and end each year with a luncheon.  

In between those two social events, each Monday afternoon a member presents a research paper on a subject in one of three broad categories chosen by the 35 members the previous year. We have a short business meeting, one member presents Current Events - highlights from the headlines of the preceding week - and then the week's paper is given. 

It is all very enlightening.

Which leads me to tell you that this year I will be giving a paper in the category of "Unearthing History". My subject will be the Middle Eastern archaeological adventures of Dame Agatha Christie. I started nosing about for stories on female archaeologists in general and discovered that Ms. Christie wrote what she called 'an archaeological memoir' - a tale first published in 1946 of her experiences investigating ancient, dusty ruins with her husband Max Mallowan. Some of her most delightful mysteries take place in or around those foreign excavations.

I have taken the title of my paper from the title of her book: Come, Tell Me How You Live.

The book arrived yesterday along with another volume of stories of seven female archaeologists by Amanda Adams entitled Ladies of the Field (2010). It takes a look at Victorian ladies - including Ms. Christie - who gathered up their skirts and went off to seek adventures far from home. 

So I will be spending the next month or two reading and researching these brave ladies and then comes the most fun - writing the paper. 

This will be my fifth presentation to the club and although it causes quite a bit of nail-biting, hair-tearing, and heavy sighing, in the end it always proves to be an enriching experience and one that I look forward to. I do think it will be quite fun Unearthing History.