The Anthony Powell Society Newsletter #5 The Anthony Powell Society

Newsletter

Issue 5 Winter 2001 50p

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Editorial Anthony Powell’s Cats by Stephen Holden by Michael Goldman

Two important books have been published since To me one of Anthony Powell’s most endearing the last Newsletter. The first is the Eton personal characteristics was his love of cats. The conference proceedings, produced in a limited and way that this eminent writer of slightly mandarin numbered edition of 250, signed by the Society’s demeanour would treat his cats as if they had Patron, John Powell. human personalities must surely appeal to all cat lovers. Ailurophobes, however, need not stop The second is Daydream Believer: Confessions of reading here because Anthony Powell’s attitude to a Hero-Worshipper by the Society’s President, his cats was not cloying or repellent - as some Hugh Massingberd. Not only does it contain a might find, for example, JR Ackerley’s attitude to whole chapter on Anthony Powell, but it is his dog Tulip - but sober and sensible, at least to extremely funny throughout. A review of this other ailurophiles. Anthony Powell’s written excellent book can be found herein. references to his cats resemble the rather deadpan references to minor characters in the novels. This Newsletter contains, among other articles, a piece on Anthony Powell and music by John S The great mystery, however, is why no cat appears Monagan (“the Congressman” of the Journals), in A Dance to the Music of Time even in a walk-on and a fascinating piece on Anthony Powell’s cats part. I am relying on my memory, having read by Michael Goldman. each volume as it appeared and then the whole of the sequence twice, though not recently, but Lady All Newsletter contributions are welcome and Violet Powell confirms my impression. I am also should be sent to the editor, Stephen Holden, The grateful to her for pointing out the only appearance Anthony Powell Society, 76 Ennismore Avenue, of cats, to her recollection, in Anthony Powell’s Greenford, Middlesex, UB6 0JW, UK. fiction: that is in Agents and Patients (pages 26 (email: [email protected]). and 29, original 1936 edition):

“Stepping over two cats… Maltravers Corrections walked across the room… The two cats who until now had been asleep rose In Issue 4 of the Newsletter the end of paragraph simultaneously and pompously walked two of the Tea at The Chantry article should read: across the room.”

“John Powell joined us and mentioned that his There are some mentions of cats in the third and mother had taken a sketchbook with her when on fourth volumes of To Keep the Ball Rolling and holiday abroad, using it as a kind of illustrated many in the Journals: this article is mainly based journal of their travels. Anthony Powell had kept on those sources. Also helpful, though divergent up his drawing and painting by contributing a from the main sources in one or two instances, was drawing or cartoon on each trip.” an article in the Daily Telegraph Weekend Magazine (25 November 1989) by Alison Nadel Our apologies for this error. entitled Animal Passions: Anthony Powell’s Cat. ------The singular is appropriate because the article Item 8.E. of the AGM minutes refers to Anne majors on Snook, the cat resident at the time of the Hastings. This should, of course, read Lady interview on which it is based. I noticed a copy of Lancaster (the author Anne Scott-James, formerly the article on display in the exhibition in the Eton Anne Hastings). College Library which was one of the most interesting features of the 2001 Anthony Powell conference. I am grateful to Michael Meredith, the Librarian, for sending me a photocopy very promptly in response to my request. Last but certainly not least, Lady Violet helped me to bring this article up to date and she was also very prompt in replying to my queries.

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Alison Nadel’s article and the third volume of A pedigree dark brown Burmese followed, called Powell’s autobiography give contradictory Kingsplay Flixey Fum, brother of the Burmese information on his first cat and I prefer to rely on champion. the autobiography. Soon after their marriage, while living in Great Ormond Street, the Powells “… Fum, though he liked being acquired a Siamese cat whom they named Bosola photographed on social occasions, was after the devious character in The Duchess of unambitious in the professional field. Malfi. Something of an intellectual, a strong character with a warm nature, he was “… Bosola was a strong feline personality, universally loved and respected. He died intelligent, serious, noting such things as full of years and honour at the venerable age Violet tying an unaccustomed ribbon in her of nineteen-and-a-half.” hair, but also a trifle neurotic. We thought a companion of his own Next, in 1977, came Trelawney “a Cornish Rex breed might steady Bosola’s nerves, give also of aristocratic origins… one of the most him a friend to confide in, so a year or two affectionate cats I have ever met, and one of the later, after we had moved from Bloomsbury most intelligent, though less intellectual than to Regent’s Park, acquired another Siamese Fum.” The name derived partly from his Cornish neuter. This was not a success. Paris (his origin and “partly because one of his ancestors was pedigree name), younger than Bosola, was called Marina Mystic, thereby recalling Dr hearty, carefree, bouncing, not unfriendly, Trelawney in Dance.” It is Trelawney’s but Bosola could never get used to his tremendous appetite, not Albert’s, that Lady Violet extrovert ways, was indeed a little afraid of remembers, also his capacity for opening doors in him. Nevertheless, although not developing order to get at food. It may be that this talented cat truly fraternal feelings towards each other, could also read, for he tore down from one food Bosola and Paris would occasionally enter cupboard a notice which said “Keep bolted”! into a temporary alliance to exclude from what they regarded as their own territory There are several references to Trelawney in the any cat they looked on as a social inferior.” Journals, mostly to do with his dislike of being photographed. He appears in one of the At the outbreak of war in 1939 the two Siamese photographs in the Journals whereas Albert and were sent to live in the country not far from Flixey Fum appear twice each. However, it think London, an arrangement which, intended to be it must have been Trelawney who, I remember, sat temporary, turned out to be permanent. composedly on Anthony Powell’s knee during a television interview some time in the 1980s, After the war, in 1946, there was a Russian Blue washing himself apparently unconcerned by the called Smoke who was killed in a road accident camera. only a month after the Powells acquired him. The policeman who found him gave them a non- The saddest of all Anthony Powell’s references to pedigree kitten, tabby with a white shirt-front, his cats is that in the Journal for 7 May 1988: whom they called Albert - after Albert Lechat, a Belgian assistant military attaché with whom “The Trelawney (cat) situation has now Anthony Powell had worked during World War II. come to the worst. He is a little bag of He was “a very popular member of the local cat bones, finding difficulty in eating, lifting his community” in Chester Gate and “also on head with an effort, tho’ will jump on my exceptionally good terms with dogs.” Albert knee. It breaks one’s heart. Only six moved with the Powells to The Chantry in 1952 months ago the vet commented that it was “complaining loudly all the way in a crowded nice to see a cat of Trelawney’s age looking railway carriage.” He took a little time to get used so well. He is now within a month of his to his new surroundings then “settled down rather eleventh birthday. V and John took him in self-consciously as a country cat.” He died of today to the vet to make an end of things. I over-eating when he was thirteen in 1958, felt ashamed that this unpleasant job fell on according to Anthony Powell, but Lady Violet’s them. Dreadfully distressing… A very, very memory is different: “Albert did not die of over- sad day.” eating” but simply of age. Maintaining a pedigree/moggie alternating sequence, the next Powell cat was Snook, so called

3 The Anthony Powell Society Newsletter #5 because on 1 July 1988 he came from the Snook like to go outside, Snook?’ he asks with grave family at a nearby farm. The month old tabby formality.” As the interviewer writes: “he speaks kitten with white shirt-front and white paws of his cats as if they are old friends, with seemed “very pleased with himself.” unselfconscious affection.”

On 26 September “Snook recognised Kingsley [Amis] at once as a cat victim, sat on him, then to Dance Music show off jumped on the lintel of the library door.” by John S Monagan Other journal entries also refer to Snook showing off, “preposterously” on one occasion. Snook Anthony Powell made great use of music to frequently asserted his presence. On 26 October sharpen the narratives of his novels. Since dance is 1989 Anthony Powell was talking to a goat in the the symbol of his major novel, A Dance to the Paddock Field when he found himself “roughly Music of Time, it is appropriate that the pushed aside by Snook. The goat and Snook accompanying art should have been given greatly interested in each other, eventually touched prominence. These insertions were numerous and noses in recognition of friendship.” Two years contrasting and they added color and impact to the later Snook caught a bat which had somehow got scenes in which they were employed. Their into the Powell library. Snook died of kidney aptness was such that it might lead a reader to failure in autumn 2001 at the age of thirteen, conclude that the author was a skilled musician, “greatly mourned.” but such was not the case. Music was not one of his skills. As he wrote in his memoir, To Keep the Lady Violet writes that Snook: Ball Rolling, he “had no musical sensitivities.” At The Chantry, no piano was in evidence, nor did “… has been replaced by Jake, a 13 month one see there a banjo casually laid aside for the tabby (no white) with Maine Coon ears. He moment on the great table in the library. No is most affectionate and comes from a rescue collection of CDs jostled the vast collection of centre near Trowbridge. He has settled in books on the capacious shelves. Powell was not a well.” singer nor was he an instrumentalist, although, as Lady Violet points out, his mother in younger Anthony Powell’s A Writer’s Notebook contains days, played the banjo in charity concerts at only one major reference to cats, in the form of a Brighton. Still, while attendance at operas or list of possible names: choral events was never a chosen form of relaxation for Powell, no Vaughan Williams or “Blogram Vautrain Lord Jim Gentleman Elgar (or Lambert or Moreland for that matter) Brown Zero.” could have improved on the appropriateness of his selections. The puzzle here is the spelling of the first two names. Blogram must surely be derived from A Dance to the Music of Time provides numerous Robert Browning’s Bishop Blougram and Vautrain examples of Powell’s reliance on musical forms to from Balzac’s Vautrin, so why the variant heighten the atmosphere of the sequence. spellings? Four possible explanations suggest Unfortunately, these selections are not “music”, themselves: but are the lyrics which raise the memory of the - they were deliberate (but for what reason?); music, but one can in most cases supply the notes - Anthony Powell made two mistakes (surely from longtime memory. Of course, this deficiency not?); was eliminated in the Dance TV movie. - errors occurred in transcribing the notebook; - poor copy editing and/or proof reading. Early in A Question of Upbringing, the first novel of the Dance series, when Jenkins, Stringham and Do other readers of the Newsletter have any other Templer have returned to the school chapel for theories? evensong after the Braddock alias Thorne incident, the author conveys the atmosphere in musical The Weekend Telegraph article is illustrated with a terms: “The voluntary droned quietly for a time at photograph of the handsome Snook, with an this muted level of sound. Emotional intensity indignant expression, being held in a slightly seemed to meet and mingle with an air of undignified pose by Anthony Powell. The indifference, even of cruelty, within these walls.” interview ends with Powell addressing Snook who Then the congregation rose to sing a hymn: has been asleep behind the curtains: “ ‘Would you

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Ted Jeavons, the appealing husband of Lady As o’er each continent and island Molly, the easy-going hostess and aunt of the The dawn leads on another day, Tolland children, provides a symbolic background The voice of prayer is never silent and commentary on the end of a whole era and the Nor dies the strain of praise away. future revolutions of World War II when, in the company of his brother Stanley and Nick, in the As the singing began, the atmosphere changed and, close of The Kindly Ones, in an unexpectedly as Nick said, “Somehow I felt rather moved as the melodious voice he sings: hymn rolled on.” There’s a long, long trail a-winding Appropriately, shortly before, and in contrast to Into the land… of my dreams this atmosphere of reverence, immediately after the Where the nightingale… is singing contrived arrest of the master, Le Bas, when the And the white moon beams. trio of companions had entered the slovenly “tea There’s a long, long night of waiting and minerals” shop for “a cooling drink”, a Until my dreams all… come true. gramophone was playing: Sometimes the song assigned by Powell appears at Everything is buzz-buzz now, first notice to be inappropriate, as, at the start of Everything is buzz, somehow: Casanova’s Chinese Restaurant rendering the You ring up on your buzzer saccharine Pale Hands I Loved Beside the And buzz with one another Shalimar. On reflection, however, one realizes Or, in other words, pow-wow. that it was not the physical experience that was pertinent, but the nostalgia of the poet lamenting This uninspired lyric underlines the sharp contrast the loss of his beloved (“where are you now, who in the radically different locales and atmospheres lies beneath your spell?”), as Jenkins and of the two milieux. Moreland lamented the loss of the public house where the two had spent so many happy hours in Somewhat later in A Buyer’s Market, after Nick earlier days. has started his career in London, the flavor of the period is unmistakably conveyed by the band at the Powell adds to his striking characterization of Huntercombe’s dance playing the Rodgers and General Aylmer Conyers with the description in At Hart: Lady Molly’s of the general, in solitude, doggedly practising at his cello, and one can almost hear the We’ll have a - Blue Room a - struggle to reach the rising notes as he reaches the New room for - two room - climax of what is undoubtedly Schubert’s Ave Maria. while across the square in musical rivalry, an opposing band plays a piece by the same couple: Powell also uses another musical reference to add an unexpected facet to a character when Canon In the mountain greenery Fenneau reveals, in Hearing Secret Harmonies, Where God makes the scenery. that Scorpio Murtlock, the fearsome cult leader, as “a beautiful little boy”, sang the soprano solo in With these insertions, the carefree feel of the late Hail, Gladdening Light in the Canon’s choir. Twenties is indelibly conveyed. After Nick had joined the Army, he was assigned Powell makes frequent use of tunes from the old to a Territorial infantry regiment and, upon music hall programs to define a character, as in the introduction to its encampment, as he was being scene in The Kindly Ones where Private Bracey, escorted to his billet on a gloomy day, he and his industriously polishing his officer’s boots, happily companions entered the chapel Sardis whose and softly hums to himself: depths were shrouded in a cave-like darkness. As they moved along, they were met by one of the Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday more dramatic moments in the novel when “at the May be merry and bright, far end of the cave, like the anthem of the soloist But I’m going to be married on Sunday; bursting gloriously from a hidden choir, a man’s Oh, I wish it was Sunday night. voice, deep throated and penetrating, sounded, rose, swelled, in a lament of heartbreaking melancholy”:

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service at Grosvenor Chapel on March 4, 2000. That’s where I fell in love, Allowing Jeavons a dual rôle as a sort of Greek While stars above chorus, underlines the capacity of Powell to create Came out to play: an attractive character who is unforgettable, For it was fièsta, although a minor figure in the total tapestry. And we were so gay, South of the border, On occasion, Powell’s instrumentation does raise Down Mexico Way… some question. In The Soldier’s Art, for Moreland’s imaginary Fire-watcher’s March, he And, as the singer continued to lament his need to provides the composer with “drums, perhaps, depart, a sad and monotary tone was introduced to triangle and oboe.” A rather skimpy orchestration, Nick’s military matriculation. unless it is considered that brass, reeds and percussion are impliedly included. Perhaps the most rousing musical selection in the sequence is the vigorous chant on the march of the On Powell’s sensitivity to music, one may soldiers of the Welch regiment in The Valley of remember Kingsley Amis’s account of beginning Bones, as they sing Guide Me, O Thou Great after dinner, during a Powell visit to Swansea, to Jehovah, which, as Cwm Rhonda, is practically the play a record set of Constant Lambert’s music, and national anthem of Wales: Powell’s departure for slumber before the second record of the set could be played. Guide me, O thou great Jehovah Pilgrim through his barren land: Extensively describing the August 1945 Victory I am weak, but thou art mighty, service in St Paul’s in The Military Philosophers, Hold me with thy powerful hand. Powell necessarily includes the music, picturing Nick, with detailed ruminations, pondering the This is one place where one would like to be able meaning of Blake’s lyrics to Jerusalem and joining to hear the compelling strains of the famous hymn in the singing of all three verses of the National as well as read the words. Anthem. Nick’s analysis of the anthem repeats a common judgement about national anthems: But the soldiers’ songs are not always religiously “repetitive, jerky, subjective in feeling, not much directed. As if to show the coarse, male essence of ornamented by imagination nor subtlety of thought the Army, an example offered is the ballad which a and phraseology, the words possessed at the same group of soldiers directed at Maureen, the barmaid time an unpretentious expression of sentiments in The Valley of Bones, as they rolled by in their suited somehow to the moment.” truck: Admittedly, Powell rather whips through the She’ll be wearing purple socks, thanksgiving musical program of the service, And she’s always in the pox, describing the band of the Welsh Guards as And she’s Mickey McGillagan’s daughter, “strumming away” at Holst, Elgar, Grieg and Mary Ann… Handel. One is left to wonder what the choral pieces, undoubtedly magnificent, were. And, does Powell inserts music at sometimes unexpected a band “strum” or is that performance reserved for occasions as when Ted Jeavons on one of his the strings? But this is sticking at trifles, periods of relaxation, sitting with Nick in Dicky unimportant in reviewing a memorable depiction Umfraville’s nightclub, on a pause in the orchestra of a vast, dramatic and memorable scene. music, suddenly and unexpectedly began to sing: Incidentally, too, Powell has Nick, in The Valley of I could say such - wonderful things to you Bones, contemplating testing Jimmy Brent’s There would be such - wonderful things to do - knowledge of opera by singing the Volga Boat Song, but the song is not an aria, but a folk melody If you were the only - girl in the world often sung, as Jean Duport suggests, by Chaliapin. And I was the only boy… There are other examples of Powell’s skilful use of Apart from its use in the fictional setting to strike a music to add color to his narratives, but those I nostalgic note in the midst of the cabaret activity, have cited will be sufficient to make the point. this song must have been a favorite with Powell, These cases simply demonstrate one particular since at his direction it was sung at his memorial Powell skill which, among his numerous others,

6 The Anthony Powell Society Newsletter #5 testifies to the genius of one of the great novelists The substantial main course for many members of of our time. the Society will be the chapter about Anthony Powell, ‘The Sage of the Chantry’, although in fact the book is garnished with Powellian references Daydream Believer throughout. Here, among other things, the reader meets the Journals from the other side: by Hugh Massingberd reviewed by Noreen Marshall “…Tony did me the honour of dedicating the last volume of his Journals ‘For Hugh Subtitled Confessions of a Hero-Worshipper, Massingberd’. This gave me a thrill beyond Daydream Believer is Hugh Massingberd’s my wildest dreams. I was on such a cloud of account of his lifelong appetite for a meticulously happiness about it that I managed to rise researched fantasy world where the giving and above the regrettable impression given in receiving of admiration are generously catered for. one of the entries…that I had been party to the notion that Max Hastings had ruined the By way of a starter, the dust jacket illustrations Telegraph by dragging it downmarket…” show a rather wistful-looking child Hugh Montgomery, a caricatured Hugh Montgomery- There is an extended account of Powell’s relishing Massingberd (‘Exhibit 273B: A Stuffed Nob’ by the television adaptation of Dance, the studio William Rushton), and a curiously flat-looking gossip that went with the making of it, and photograph of Hugh Massingberd Author of This (naturally) the genealogy of some of the actors. Book. The text goes on to give us a whole menu There are also glimpses of Powell doing the of Massingberds, some of them of a less familiar expected things like making curry (“ideally lamb flavour than others: the reluctant Harrovian, the with no shortage of garlic”) or exerting his critical devotee of West-end musicals and cricket, the faculties on some of his fellow writers, to contrast indefatigable trencherman, the expert on genealogy with some of the less well-known, like his and country houses, the skilled obituarist, the retention of his childhood copy of Lt-Col failed articled clerk, the racing punter, and above Secombe’s Army & Navy Birthday Book for all the hero-worshipper. Children, still in use. And yes, the Anthony Powell Society gets a deft mention, the chapter As many of us have found, meeting our heroes can ending with the Eton 2001 conference and the indeed be “dire, embarrassing, frequently farcical”. author’s appointment as President of the Society. Hugh Massingberd has pulled no punches here: Since all printed books now seem to contain mis- “ …I have – at the risk of exposing myself spellings, my only carp is that there is no index of as a ghastly combination of Mr Collins, names to drop… and a family tree wouldn’t have Uriah Heep and Kenneth Halliwell – sought gone amiss. This is a book to be savoured and to be as honest as I dare in attempting to enjoyed (so far the Newsletter Editor and the exorcise the demons of my daydream Archivist have admitted to sitting up reading it into believing…” the early hours!). Assembled from fine ingredients by a master craftsman, the collation of memories And he goes on to demonstrate, over and over and experiences is by turns entertaining, intriguing, again, the strange mixture of thrill and and refreshing, and is generously laced with spirits embarrassment or even unhappiness which seems as diverse as Sir Iain Moncrieffe of that Ilk, Peter to have attended his meetings with so many of his Cook, Jennifer Patterson and the jockey Terry heroes. He is also frank about the plums and Biddlecombe. Oh, and a little Italian dessert prunes of his life: family, schooldays, ambitions, encountered in the teens while on a latter-day relationships and disappointments (the latter version of the Grand Tour with the author’s category including a brace of country estates and a increasingly disapproving uncle and namesake, handful of extinct titles), and the fact that his Monsignor Hugh Massingberd, the one Catholic young-fogeyishness seems to have brought him member of the family: little happiness. However, like TH White’s Merlin in The Sword in the Stone, the author seems (Hugh the younger): “I thought Catholic to be living backwards, getting younger as time priests were supposed to be sympathetic. goes by. All I want is sympathy”

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(Hugh the elder): “Look it up in the Oxford thanks) made it a convivial, idyllic, and memorable English Dictionary – it comes between occasion. simpering and syphilis…”

All in all, a feast, and moreover one of the few that you can safely guarantee to digest with no trouble Dancing School at all over the Christmas holiday. by John Gould

*** In September of this year I began teaching a senior elective English course at my school titled Daydream Believer: Confessions of a Hero- (erroneously in fact, but not in spirit) ‘The Longest Worshipper by Hugh Massingberd is published by Novel Ever Written.’ Phillips Academy, thus, may Macmillan at £16.99. be the only school in North America with a course devoted entirely to A Dance to the Music of Time. The syllabus calls for the entire Dance sequence to be read over three terms. This fall nine students Connecticut Meeting and I have been reading the first four books, each by Nicholas Birns week gathering in my living room for our double period, in my classroom for the two singles. Each On October 13, 2001, an Anthony Powell mini- student wrote a short (500-700 word) essay on a conference was held at the Silvermine Tavern, topic of interest from each book. These topics Norwalk, Connecticut. The splendid autumnal were entirely student-selected, although we spent weather and near-peak foliage only added to the time in class generating some of them. Besides appropriateness of the setting, as I had always felt discussion and the reading of papers, we watched this part of Connecticut to have a Powellian air to the first instalment of the television adaptation, it. Through a robust luncheon of salad, beef, and, listened to some of A Question of Upbringing on for the more intrepid, Bloody Marys, we merrily audiotape, and interviewed a British colleague of discoursed on Dance and its reverberations. Our mine who graduated from Oxford. During our particular subject was the Jeavonses - in particular, reading of At Lady Molly’s, I read aloud a PG Lady Molly, and how she functioned as an Wodehouse story, ‘Pig-hooey’, suspecting (rightly) idiosyncratic bridge between Bohemia and that the students’ background in the dottiness of philistinism, aristocracy and raffishness. A the British aristocracy was limited at best. question came up on which perhaps our British readers can perhaps be of help: if Molly Sleaford The single biggest challenge for all ten of us has had not married Ted Jeavons after the death of her been overcoming our limitations of time and place. husband, Chips Lovell’s first Sleaford uncle, We are all Americans, all now of the twenty-first would she have been called Lady Sleaford, the century, and nine of us are unfamiliar with much of “Lady” deriving from her marriage of the Earl of the literary canon upon which Anthony Powell’s Sleaford and thus being Countess thereof, or Lady writing depends. Most of us don’t know the Bible; Molly Sleaford from her father being Lord few of us are churchgoers, one of us is Hindu. Ardglass? We also discussed the enigmatic figure Everyone has had a course in Shakespeare. Still, it of Stanley Jeavons and how he, not one of the devolves on the teacher not only to explain the more conspicuous characters in Dance, assists incomprehensible - what does “so wet you could Nick in getting into the Army in The Kindly Ones. shoot snipe off him” mean, anyhow? - but also to As we were meeting a bare month after September point out phrases that carry more weight than 11, the atmosphere of the last portion of the sixth might be expected – “outward and visible form” book, its chronicling of the sudden coming of war, (which appears three times in A Buyer’s Market) struck a resonant chord. We also focused on other coming from the Anglican definition of matters such as the British boarding-school “sacrament,” say. We have been helped greatly in experience and the music of real-life composers these endeavors by Hilary Spurling’s Invitation to Constant Lambert and Peter Warlock, aka Philip the Dance, by Violet Powell’s Album, and the AP Heseltine. Attendance was understandably limited list-serve, especially Auke Leistra’s by the proximity of the tragedy. But those who did correspondence. come (Eileen Kaufman, Tony Lee, William Warren, Edwin Bock, John Gould, Nicholas Birns, I find myself energized and challenged by the areas Sam Goodyear, and Leatrice Fountain, who the students want to follow. A couple of them organized the entire event and deserves a million have political bents - they are members of the

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Model UN club, for instance - and they have been Meet the Committee: fascinated by Quiggin’s Marxism and Guggenbuhl’s Trotskyism. One girl was interested Keith Marshall, Hon. Secretary by Templer’s perfection of dress, and wondered what Powell meant by it. A boy taking an Stephen Holden went to see the Society’s economics class tried to make sense out Secretary. He found an eccentric and eclectic Widmerpool’s speech at La Bas’s dinner. I just professional dedicated to the Society and to received a paper that attempts to interpret Nick’s fishkeeping. character as a reflection of his military upbringing. Perhaps most astonishing about this piece was that Keith Marshall was born in London in 1951 and we have not yet read The Kindly Ones, where the educated at the Universities of York and East points this student is making are most clearly Anglia. Since completing his doctorate in demonstrated. Chemistry he has worked in the computer industry, doing everything from technical sales to project The students are fascinated with certain characters management. One of the founding members of the - Mrs. Erdleigh, Uncle Giles, Sir Magnus Donners. Anthony Powell Society, Keith is also its Hon. Their tastes don’t always match mine. They have Secretary and Conference Project Manager, as well been quite defensive about Widmerpool, feeling as being the creator of the Anthony Powell website that he has gotten the short end of a number of and e-mail discussion list. He lives in West sticks; but I sense they are starting to change. London with his wife and two cats. His other main They were astonished by the gay characters: Max interest is trying to find the time for being a Pilgrim, Mr. Deacon, Heather Hopkins, Norah dilettante researcher, fish keeper, family historian Tolland. They like Stringham, but right now don’t and early music enthusiast. care much for Templer. Nick, not surprisingly, continues to baffle them, as he keeps displaying “May ambition”, Keith says, “is to win the lottery that fanatical reticence about his personal life. A and be able to afford to retire. Then I can run the couple of them see this reserve as a weakness, as Society almost full time and still have time for all though Powell were incapable of revealing his my other interests.” narrator’s inner life. I find myself looking forward with some suspense to what their final answer to Keith is one of the original founding members of this question will be. the Society and it is upon his work building the Anthony Powell Resources website and the Not all of them will answer it. Some will stay with APLIST email discussion list that the Society is the class for the year, but others will drop out, and based. Keith has been secretary of the Society still others will come on board. In order to keep since its foundation and also led the team continuity and to help the newcomers catch up, the responsible for the successful Eton conference. class is building a web site. The students compile a synopsis and character list for each of the novels, I asked Keith what he sees as the major challenge and I am publishing their papers on the appropriate facing the Society. “Well actually, I see two page. Members of the Society are cordially challenges,” came the answer. “Gaining charitable invited to explore the site: status is clearly one as this will put the Society in a www.andover.edu/english/jgould/dance/home.html better financial footing. The other is the need to raise some significant funding for the 2003 If any of the papers strike a fancy, the authors can conference. Without this the cost to delegates will, be contacted by emailing me at we believe, be too high.” [email protected]. I will forward any commentary to them. The students are excited by this possibility. I have told them that they are writing, not simply for their teacher, but for a much wider audience: for a community of readers and scholars that write and talk to each other all around the world. Heady wine, that - headier than anything the butler Smith could find in Erridge’s cellar!

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From the APLIST From the Secretary's Desk

Recent Discussions on the Society’s Email The Editor has asked me to write a regular column Discussion Group in the Newsletter about the Society's hot topic(s) of the day. So every quarter there will be a few ------words of wisdom from me - or maybe from the From: Adrian Fry Chairman or the Treasurer.

A couple of recent mails to this list have touched I want to start off this column with two topics: on AP's dislike of Anthony Trollope. I was becoming a charity and organising events. extremely surprised that AP should dislike this marvellous writer. Not only must he have derived One of the pieces of work which is currently some sort of inspiration from Trollope's invention occupying the Executive Committee is our desire of the novel series but his expository narrative to officially register the Society as a charity. For a style - the early chapters of O, HOW THE small Society like us this isn't too difficult; just WHEEL BECOMES IT! come to mind - remind time consuming. me very much of Trollope. would expect and understand a dislike of the picaresque excesses of However, being a charity can make a worthwhile Dickens but I feel that Trollope's style is in difference in terms of financing as there are accordance with at least some of AP's ideas. significant tax advantages to charitable status as well as opening up many more funding and But then, literary tastes are peculiar to the sponsorship opportunities. individual. Knowing how much AP was influenced by Proust, I began the great cake sniffers classic To gain charitable status we basically have to be but found it utterly turgid. able to show that as an unincorporated association we are properly constituted (we have a formally ------adopted constitution) and that our aims, as laid From: Stephen Holden down in that constitution, and our activities are wholly charitable. In order to do this successfully Yes, I'm about a third of the way through 'A La we will need to make some (minor) amendments to Recherche', and am finding it heavy going. The the existing constitution. So sometime in Spring dust-jacket of my edition has a quote from Terence next year we will call an Extraordinary General Kilmartin (the translator) saying what a hoot the Meeting to ask you, the members, to enact the book is. I found any amusing passages were few necessary changes. Watch this space. and far between. The other subject I'd like to open up is that of By the way, having visited The Chantry after the organising events. We all like the Society to run AGM, I can confirm that AP's editions of Proust events and as you'll see elsewhere we have a (even the French one) were very well-thumbed. couple of interesting meetings lined up for the ------coming months. However, contrary to popular From: Andrew Clarke myth, these things don't happen by magic; someone has to organise them. Organising events You wouldn't have the Kenneth Williams needs four key things: good ideas, time, to be fairly recording of 'A la recherche' by any chance? Did local to the venue and to able to do some basic all the voices himself, you know, and I do like the planning. way that Charlus sounds just like the chap who used to drop in on Tony Hancock the most There is no shortage of good ideas for events, and inopportune at moments. A forgotten masterpiece, the Executive have a lot of experience of planning. which I would rank with the late Frankie Howerd's But we lack the other two key ingredients. None monumental recording of Ulysses from the same of us has enough time to devote to organising era. events (we all do demanding full-time jobs!), as well as running the Society and organising the conference. And we are mostly UK-based.

Yes, you guessed it! We need some event organisers. I'm delighted that the New York area

10 The Anthony Powell Society Newsletter #5 group - started by Leatrice Fountain - has The Wallace Collection successfully taken root; they are already organising themselves some interesting meetings. And there Lunch and Gallery Talk are rumours of a West Coast USA group starting and also a group in Japan. Date: Saturday 09 February 2002. Lunch (2 courses) at 1200 noon. Gallery talk at 1330 hrs. But we could do with someone to be the overall Venue: The Wallace Collection, Hertford House Events Secretary for the Society. Hopefully they Manchester Square, London, W1M 6BN. would be UK based and could arrange events in the UK. And it would be good if they were also be Join us in The Wallace Collection’s new the Society's Branch Liaison Officer and oversee restaurant, Café Bagatelle, for a two-course lunch the activities of the groups around the world to and chat. ensure they get the support they need from the centre. Would anyone like to volunteer? Following lunch, at 1330 hrs, we have arranged for one of the Wallace’s experts to give us a gallery talk about Nicolas Poussin’s painting A Dance to

the Music of Time which was to so inspire Anthony The Anthony Powell Society Powell’s magnum opus. Officers & Executive Committee Special price for members and their guests is Patron: John Powell (Somerset) £19.50 for lunch and the gallery talk. Non- President: Hugh Massingberd (London) members price: £25.

Chairman*: Maggie Noach (London) Places are strictly limited so booking is essential. Hon. Secretary*: Dr Keith Marshall (London) To reserve a place please send payment (sterling Hon. Treasurer*: Prof. Ian Young (Belfast) cheque or credit card) to the Hon. Secretary as soon as possible and absolutely no later than Committee Members*: Friday 18 January. Dr Nicholas Birns (New York) Leatrice Fountain (Connecticut) Stephen Holden (London) Tony Robinson (Felixstowe)

Newsletter Editor: Stephen Holden Membership: Keith Marshall Archivist: Noreen Marshall Webmaster: Keith Marshall

PR/Media Advisers: Julian Allason Catherine Mansel Lewis

2003 Conference Organising Committee: Keith Marshall, Christine Berberich, Sue Frye, Stephen Holden, Catherine Mansel Lewis, Noreen Marshall, Tony Robinson

Members of the Executive Committee

11 The Anthony Powell Society Newsletter #5

Dates for Your Diary The Travellers’ Club Meeting

Friday 7 December 2001. London Restaurant Meet. Venue: L’Artiste Musclé, 1 Shepherd Market, London, W1. Time: 1930 hrs.

Friday 21 December 2001. New York Meet. Venue: Century Club, 7 West 43rd St, New York. Time: 12.30 for 1 pm. Please contact William Warren if you wish to attend: ANTHONY POWELL EVENING [email protected] Monday 4 March 2002

Saturday 9 February 2002. Wallace Collection A HERO OF OUR CLUB Lunch and Gallery Talk. Venue: The Wallace ANTHONY POWELL AT THE Collection, Manchester Square, London, W1M TRAVELLERS’ 6BN. Informal 2-course lunch at 1200 noon. 1930 – 2000 Gallery talk at 1330 hrs. Inclusive price for An informal talk by members & their guests: £19.50. Non-members Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd £25. Limited places; booking essential. Please Introduced by AN Wilson send payment (sterling cheque or credit card) to the Hon. Sec. by Friday 18 January. For further The Travellers’ Club, of which Anthony Powell details see elsewhere in this issue. was a member for some 70 years, are presenting a talk by Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd, AP Monday 4 March 2002. Travellers’ Club Society President and author of Daydream Meeting. Society President Hugh Massingberd Believer: Confessions of a Hero-Worshipper, will speak about Anthony Powell and the which features a chapter on Anthony Powell. Travellers’ Club. Followed by (an optional) dinner. Open invitation to all AP Soc members. Society members and guests are invited to attend Talk: free. Dinner: £29. Time: 1830 for 1900 hrs. the talk on Monday 04 March 2002, which will be Dress: Jacket & tie. Further details and booking held in the Library of The Travellers Club information elsewhere in this issue. commencing at 7.00pm. A cash bar will be available from 6.30pm. Saturday 14 September 2002. Society AGM. Venue: Eton College. Time: Afternoon. Details to Dinner will be available to both Travellers Club follow. and AP Society members and their guests following the talk, at a set price of £29.00 for a Monday 7 & Tuesday 8 April 2003. Second three-course set menu accompanied by Club wines. Biennial Anthony Powell Conference -- Anthony Powell and Oxford of the 1920s. Venue: Balliol Members attending the talk are asked to inform College, Oxford. Details to follow. The Travellers Club – a phone message or email is sufficient. Members wishing to dine should reserve places by contacting Mrs Dawn Barnett at The Travellers Club as soon as possible and no later than Friday 22 February 2002.

Dress: Jacket and tie for gentlemen and the equivalent for ladies. (Note: The Travellers Club does not admit guests wearing trainers or denim.)

The Travellers Club, 106 Pall Mall London, SW1Y 5EP Phone: 020 7930 8688 Fax: 020 7930 2019 Email: [email protected]

12 The Anthony Powell Society Newsletter #5

Society Notices Noreen Marshall, Christine Berberich, Catherine Mansel Lewis and Sue Frye. Eton Conference Proceedings Published We are delighted to announce that the proceedings If you would like to present a paper at the of the First Biennial Anthony Powell Conference, conference, we would love to hear from you. A held at Eton College on 23 April 2001 are now Call for Papers will be issued shortly which will available. By the time you read this copies will detail how to submit the synopsis of your paper. In have been mailed to all conference delegates. the meantime if you are considering submitting a paper please get in touch with the Hon. Sec. The Society has produced the proceedings as an A5 paperback book of 160+ pages under the title Provisional bookings for the conference, which has Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of A Dance to to be strictly limited to a maximum of 100 the Music of Time. The book contains the delegates, are being accepted by the Hon. Sec. complete text of all the presented papers and keynote speeches, plus one additional paper not Finally, we are still looking for a philanthropist to presented, and a transcript of the discussion help fund the conference – and thus keep down the sessions. The first edition (which depending on cost to the delegates! If anyone can put us in touch demand may, of course, be the only edition) is a with such a philanthropic person or organisation, numbered limited edition of just 250 copies, all of then again, please get in touch with the Hon. Sec. which are signed by John Powell, younger son of or any of the committee. Anthony Powell and the Society’s Patron.

Please see the Society Merchandise page for ordering details. Society members will be given priority distribution until January 2002.

***

Poussin Painting Postcard In yet another coup for the Society we are delighted to have obtained a small supply of postcards of Nicolas Poussin’s painting A Dance to the Music of Time, which so inspired Powell’s magnum opus. We are indebted to The Wallace Collection in London, owners of the Poussin painting, for slightly discounting the cost of the postcards and allowing us to resell them to Society members. See the Society Merchandise page for pricing. Available only while stocks last.

***

Conference 2003 -- Advance Notice The Second Biennial Anthony Powell Conference will be held on Monday 7 and Tuesday 8 April 2003 at Balliol College, Oxford. Powell read History at Balliol College after leaving Eton in 1923, so it is an appropriate setting for our second conference. The conference theme will be “Anthony Powell and Oxford of the 1920s”.

Detailed planning for the conference is now under way and further information will be printed here when available. The organising committee is: Keith Marshall, Stephen Holden, Tony Robinson,

13 The Anthony Powell Society Newsletter #5

Society Merchandise Eton Conference Delegates Book We have a few copies remaining of the Eton Postcards ** NEW ** Conference Delegates Book (given to the delegates We now have two postcards available. The on the day), which gives the synopsis of each of Society’s postcard of AP with his cat Trelawney is the papers presented and mini-biographies of each still available. In addition of the authors. These are available at £2 each, post we have obtained a small free in the UK; other members please add a supply of The Wallace contribution to postage & packing: Europe 50p, Collection’s colour World £1 per copy. Only available while stocks postcard of Poussin’s last. painting of A Dance to the Music of Time. The two Newsletter Back Issues cards are slightly Back numbers of all issues of the Newsletter are differently priced but both available at 50p each, again post free in UK. are now post free in the Outside the UK please add a contribution to UK; non-UK members postage & packing: Europe 40p, World 90p per are asked to pay a small copy. contribution towards the cost of airmail postage Ordering and packing. Payment may be made by cheque (UK funds drawn on a UK bank) or credit card (Visa or Mastercard).

Pack AP Poussin Contribution to Please post, phone or fax orders to: Size Card Card Postage & Packing

Europe World Hon. Secretary, The Anthony Powell Society 5 £1.75 £2.00 £0.50 £1.00 76 Ennismore Avenue, Greenford 10 £3.50 £4.00 £0.50 £1.50 Middlesex, UB6 0JW, UK. 25 £8.00 £10.00 £1.00 £1.50 Phone: +44 (0)20 8864 4095 Fax: +44 (0)20 8864 6109

Eton Conference Proceedings ** NEW ** The proceedings of the first AP Conference at Eton are now available to members. This first (and maybe only) edition is limited to just 250 numbered copies each signed by the Society’s Patron John Powell. Copies, which are post free to members, are £15 each. Non-members please add P&P: UK £0.95, Europe £1.90, Rest of World £2.80 per copy. Society members will be given priority distribution until January 2002.

14 The Anthony Powell Society Newsletter #5 The Anthony Powell Society Membership Form

Section A : Member Information Section C : Payment Information Type of membership (please check): Total amount payable £ Ordinary Member -- £20 a year. No. of years x membership rate Joint Membership -- £30 a year. Any two I enclose a sterling cheque drawn on a UK bank. people at the same address. Please make cheques payable to The Anthony Gold Member -- £30 minimum a year. Powell Society. Student Member -- £12 a year. Please send Please debit my Visa / MasterCard evidence the recipient is a full-time student. Card No.: Organisation -- £100 minimum a year. Valid from: Subscriptions are due on 01 April annually. If Expires: joining after 31 December membership includes Name & address of cardholder, if different from following subscription year. above. Member’s Cardholder’s Name Name Address Address

Postcode/Zip Postcode/Zip Country Country Email I agree to the Society holding the above details on Number of years membership being paid: computer. 1 / 2 / 3 Signed Is this membership a gift? Yes / No If Yes please complete Section B Date

Section B : Gift Membership Information Donor’s Name Section D : Mailing Information Address Please send the completed form and payment to:

Hon. Secretary The Anthony Powell Society Postcode/Zip 76 Ennismore Avenue Country Greenford, Middlesex, UB6 0JW, UK

Email Phone: +44 (0)20 8864 4095 Direct to the recipient Where shall Fax: +44 (0)20 8864 6109 To me to give to the recipient we send the membership? personally Please indicate any special message you would like sent with this membership.

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