Under Review

by Anthony Powell

"A splendid book. I cannot think of one so calculated to delight, intrigue, beguile, and inform. To pick up and browse through it . . . is like meeting some venerable old man of letters comfortably ensconced in his library, only to ready to reveal some pear of humor or wisdom about each of the writers he has chosen to deal with."—Kate Wharton, Evening Standard

"Powell is one of the great novelists of our time, much more interested in other people than in his own views and ideas. The result is that his extraordinary richness of act and detail also embodies a far more arresting and penetrating quantity of critical judgements on books, authors, fashions, developments, than are to be found in the theoretical pronouncement of modern academic criticism."—John Bayley, The Sunday Times

"These delightful reviews could be said to amount to a latter-day Brief Lives ."—David Plante, Times Literary Supplement

Genres: Literature

448 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

People best know British writer Anthony Dymoke Powell for A Dance to the Music of Time , a cycle of 12 satirical novels from 1951 to 1975.

This Englishman published his volumes of work. Television and radio dramatizations subjected major work of Powell in print continuously. In 2008, The Times newspaper named Powell among their list of "the fifty greatest British writers since 1945."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony...

Reviews

[Jim Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some consider Anthony Powell one of the greatest English novelists of the 20th Century. His “A Dancer to the Music of Time” series is a phenomenal achievement, but I find his interests in English social classes too parochial and a certain meanness of spirit in his books that keeps him from being in the top echelon for me. It is interesting, however, to find out what he likes and dislikes in literature, and, in this collection of introductions and reviews, we get a good sense of where Powell found inspiration and where his professional jealousies threw him off. The first section of the book is all about the writers of the English Decadent period and most of it is fascinating. He obviously has a great affection for these writers, even if he recognizes they were not in the top tier (although I think he is wrong about Wilde). His one-liners can be devastating (“I own a copy of Marius the Epicurian and can assure you it is not readable”). However, as he analyzes people of his own generation, he is often flat out wrong. He finds “Dubliners” a mediocre book of short stories (!), and Virginia Woolf over-inflated. He pours over people’s backgrounds (yes, he’s a snob) and is fascinated by homosexuality. After a while, you realize he really has nothing new or penetrating to say about most of these writers and often recycles the same information and opinions over several reviews.

[David]

I am a long-time devotee of Mr Powell and his work, so I find these reviews and critical essays fascinating. I can see how some might not agree. Powell covers a vast range of literary and other topics, concisely expressing a point or two about each, almost invariably finding something to praise in the work under review, and quite often prompting in me a desire to track down whatever book he may currently be reviewing, which I have sometimes done. In essence, I just enjoy hearing Powell’s mind at work. This is, I think, my third reading of the collection.