I wrote last month about my reactions to Anthony Powell's A Question of Upbringing, the first volume in his twelve book series, "A Dance to the Music of Time". I acknowledged that my inability to appreciate the book (despite making two attempts, albeit twenty two years apart) was more my failing than Powell's, and persuaded by those who know better, I went on and read the second book.
My friend Lindsay has been Professor Higgins to my Eliza Dolittle and his encouragement has paid off as I have finally 'got it'! I have truly enjoyed A Buyer's Market, finding in it much more humour, much less emotional detachment, a lighter tone and richer writing than in Volume I. It is a very clever, very well-observed, perceptive study of the human condition, which I am glad I have - despite myself and thanks to others - discovered.
While "A Question of Upbringing" had a chilly feel, somehow in this book the clouds have parted and the sun has come out; there is a charm about it which was previously absent. The characters have grown up a bit, entered the world of work or of marriage, are finding their respective paths in a society in which some are still ill at ease, and throughout I could hear Powell's 'voice' as I could not in the predecessor.
There are many exquisite lines: [at a ball] "... I saw Widmerpool ploughing his way round the room, as if rowing a dinghy in rough water", "There is, or, at least, should be, a fitness in the follies each individual pursues, and uniformity of pattern is, on the whole, rightly preserved in human behaviour" and "The Walpole-Wilsons defied prevailing mode by still employing a table-cloth, a preference of Sir Gavin's, who prided himself on combining in his own home tastes of 'the old school' with a progressive point of view in worldly matters. The scented geranium leaf usually to be found floating in the finger-bowls could be attributed to his wife's leaning towards a more exotic way of life."
On to Volume III !
