The Anthony Powell Society

by Noreen Marshall, Hon. Archivist

This is a slightly edited version of this article first appeared in Issue 231 of Book and Magazine Collector published in June 2003. It was commissioned as the first in a series of articles on UK literary societies. The Society is grateful for permission to reprint the article. This version is as reprinted in Newsletter #11.

The Anthony Powell Society was formally founded on 1st June 2000 in the elegant surroundings of 7 Ormonde Gate, London, by a handful of enthusiasts gathered beneath the rather severe gaze of Tsar Peter the Great, whose portrait hung in the room. Its aim is "to advance for the public benefit, education and interest in the life and works of the English author Anthony Dymoke Powell". So far, so traditional. But its roots and much of its working are in the Internet, where for some time it had existed in all but name as an informal group which discussed Anthony Powell (AP) and his work by e-mail. It is not only a modern organisation, but also probably the first literary society to emerge from an Internet discussion list.

It all began when Dr Keith Marshall, now the Society's Hon. Secretary, was recovering from glandular fever back in the early 1980s. A friend suggested that he might enjoy reading Anthony Powell's 12-volume novel A Dance to the Music of Time (often referred to by its fans simply as Dance). By the time his recovery was complete, he had not only read and enjoyed all twelve books, but Powell was one of his heroes. This was not just the admiration that many of us have for a particular personality, but a recognition that here was someone who was a skilful writer and literary critic – and with a circle of friends and acquaintances which included many of the twentieth century's great writers and characters such as Evelyn Waugh, Osbert Lancaster and George Orwell. So to Keith it seemed only natural to include a section on Powell when he eventually created his web pages, especially as it soon became apparent that there was nothing else Powell-related on the Web. Initial interest in this section of the website was boosted with the 1997 dramatisation of A Dance to the Music of Time for Channel 4, starring Simon Russell Beale and Miranda Richardson. That interest increased when fellow Powell enthusiast Julian Allason contacted Keith Marshall to discuss the possible real life sources for some of Powell's fictional characters. Powell himself detested this sort of thing (although he was a keen user of real life incidents and remarks), but it continues to fascinate his readers. In particular, who can possibly have been the model for the character who is arguably Powell's finest creation, Kenneth Widmerpool? Answers on an e-postcard began to arrive, the website section expanded, and the e-mail discussion list (APLIST) began in mid-1998.

Most people, including many Powell fans, assume that such a very "English" author will attract readers only in this country. But there are Powell enthusiasts all over the world, and the APLIST meant that they could constantly talk to each other by e-mail at negligible cost. And as they are a wonderfully mixed bunch of academics, enthusiasts, journalists and students their discussions have been equally full of variety. Hymns, steam trains, cocktail ingredients and the hanging of peers have been among the elements which have recently contributed to the e-debates on characters, locations, real life parallels and AP himself. APLISTers also found themselves helping with some of the more obscure details for a translation of the first four volumes of Dance into Dutch: what exactly is a regiment of the line? What are co-respondent shoes? Why would the words "Gone away" on a returned letter make the narrator think of a fox? Even those who had most detested this kind of exercise in English lessons at school hurried to explain and even to look things up. The appeal of AP's writing lies partly in his accurate ear for dialogue, his characterisation and his wit; he also evokes a setting so convincingly that the reader can, as it were, go and spend a weekend there.

The final catalyst for the founding of the Society was Powell's death in 2000 at the age of 94. The sheer volume of tributes paid to him on both sides of the Atlantic made the APLIST members realise that an international conference was needed to celebrate the man and his work. So the Society came into being for a purely practical reason – to organise the first Anthony Powell Conference. Having started on the Internet, one of the first options considered was to have the conference there, too – but it was soon realised that a "virtual" conference was going to be difficult to do well; it would also have excluded Powell devotees who did not have Internet access. One of the conference team then discovered that Eton College was keen to host the event, and that was an offer no-one wanted to refuse. Eton is not only Powell's old school, but is also the thinly-disguised setting for A Question of Upbringing, the first volume of A Dance to the Music of Time.

So the Society's first biennial conference, "Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of A Dance to the Music of Time", took place at Eton College on 23rd April 2001, opening with a message from Powell's widow, the writer Lady Violet Pakenham. Delegates came from all over the world, and listened to a fine variety of papers, among them one by the intelligence historian Nigel West on Powell's possible connections with Bletchley Park during World War II, and journalist Simon Barnes's analysis of the consumption of alcohol in Dance. The Society also welcomed Anthony Powell's younger son John as its Patron, and the writer and Powell family friend Hugh Massingberd as President. This first major event was much enjoyed by all who came to it, and the proceedings published by the Society. The second conference has just taken place at Balliol College, Oxford, where AP read History in the 1920s. This time the topics included the Poussin painting A Dance to the Music of Time which inspired the title of the sequence; Powell's acquaintance with George Orwell; and the "Oxford effect" on various writers. The overwhelming verdict from delegates was that they had enjoyed this conference even more than the first. Work has already started on the 2005 conference in London, to tie in with the Wallace Collection's proposed exhibition to mark the centenary of Powell's birth. Several venues are already "bidding" to host the 2007 conference.

The APLIST is particularly well suited to those who want to access and take part in discussions about Powell from a distance, and e-mails and telephone conferencing are widely used in the Society's work, but real events are very much what the members want. One of the earliest was an invitation to a group of Society members to attend the dedication of AP's memorial, by the sculptor Richard Kindersley. This was followed by tea at the Powells' house, The Chantry, with Lady Violet. Other events have included lunches at the Wallace Collection (handy for viewing the Poussin painting already referred to); a session on genealogy (one of AP's greatest interests) at the College of Arms, led by Patric Dickinson, Richmond Herald, who also happens to be a member; and dinner and a talk by Hugh Massingberd at his and AP's London club, The Travellers'.

The Society also has three Local Groups organising events for members in their area: the NE USA group, covering New York and Connecticut; the Great Lakes group, based in the Chicago area, and the London group, for London and SE England; other groups seem likely to emerge. The American meetings have done rather better than the English ones at leading structured discussions of various AP-related subjects, such as the prevalence of art in the first three books of Dance, whereas the English members seem to prefer to come along to the pub or bistro for wide-ranging conversations which drop in and out of Powell's world.

In its three years of existence, the Anthony Powell Society has certainly exceeded its original aim of staging a conference. It has over two hundred members, has just been granted charitable status, and is beginning to build up an archive of AP-related material for the use of researchers and enthusiasts. It has also just launched its first non-conference publication, The Master and the Congressman, a monograph by former US Senator John S Monagan (nicknamed "The Congressman" in Powell's Journals). His account of his friendship with Anthony and Violet Powell spans twenty-five years and is gently humorous. As a member of the Alliance of Literary Societies, the Anthony Powell Society hopes to achieve recognition for AP's work much as some of the longer established groups have for other authors from Lascelles Abercrombie to Charlotte Yonge. The continued availability of many authors' books for new readers to buy and to collect will almost certainly depend on interest shown in their work by academics and enthusiasts, and the Anthony Powell Society plans to go on growing and progressing, and providing an enjoyable resource for its members.