At Lady Molly's
Encyclopedia
At Lady Molly's is the fourth volume in Anthony Powell
's twelve novel sequence, A Dance to the Music of Time
. A first person narrative, it is written in precise yet conversational prose. Winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize
1957, At Lady Molly's is set in England of the mid 1930s and is essentially a comedy of manners, but in the background the rise of Hitler and of worldwide Fascism
are not ignored. The comedy is character driven and ranges from the situational to the epigrammatic. Many of the scenes are studies in embarrassment
with those involving the supremely self-important Widmerpool inducing acute embarrassment in the reader. The driving theme of At Lady Molly's is married life; marriages – as practised or mooted – among the narrator's (Nick Jenkins) acquaintances in bohemian society and the landed classes are pondered. Meanwhile the career moves of various characters are advanced, checked or put on hold.
The novel presents comparisons and relationships between the generations, which are notably burlesque
d in the engagement of Widmerpool and the older Mildred – an event that provides much scope for speculation and salacious gossip.
The portrait of the aristocratic Tolland family, sourced in part from Powell's own in-laws, the Pakenhams, is sharply painted in the manner of a conversation piece, capturing not only the personalities but the dynamics between them.
throughout the novel. Also re-encountered at Lady Molly's gathering is old Alfred Tolland.
A chance meeting by Nick with Quiggin (at a cinema where Man of Aran
is showing) leads to a surprising and rather mysterious invitation of a weekend visit to the country. Quiggin and Mona Templer are staying, it transpires, in a cottage loaned to them by Erridge (Lord Warminster, eccentric head of the Tolland family). While there they all visit the Tolland ancestral home, Thrubworth Park, for a frugal but eventful dinner.
Just as the meal is finishing two Tolland sisters, Susan and Isobel, arrive. Some while later Nick meets Lady Molly's husband, Ted Jeavons, in a Soho pub and they visit Umfraville's nightclub. They encounter Widmerpool (suffering another bout with jaundice
), Mrs Haycock and Templer.
In Autumn 1934 Jenkins becomes engaged to Isobel. Erridge, wanting to study conditions for himself, goes to China at a time when the Japanese army are undertaking offensive operations. Mona goes with him, ditching Quiggin. Widmerpool's engagement to Mildred Haycock is broken off in farcical and, to most men, crushing circumstances. However, Widmerpool remains undaunted.
, in what is really a defence of Powell and his work, doesn't comment about
At Lady Molly's in particular but writes of A Dance to the Music of Time
, "By the time he came to write the Dance, Powell's style had become almost antique, baroque
– and that lifted the comedy to a much higher level than one finds in the early novels." Powell's early novels are described as witty whereas the "Dance" books are of a higher order because the style "had become much more reflective." Ali also remarked in the same article, "Coincidence plays an important part in the characters' many encounters. Yet, structured as art, the coincidences build up into a greater patterning."
Auberon Waugh
took exception to this reflective style complaining of the number of clauses in some of Powell's sentences and attacking the use of "the diffident double-negative" as well as the "'elegant' or dissociative inverted comma." He dismissed A Dance to the Music of Time
, At Lady Molly's not excepted, with: "As an early upmarket soap opera
, it undoubtedly gave comfort to a number of people, becoming something of a cult during the 1970s in the London community of expatriate Australians. Perhaps it afforded them the illusion of understanding English society, even a vicarious sense of belonging to it. If so, it was one of the cruellest practical jokes ever played by a Welshman." These remarks appeared in a piece by Auberon Waugh in the Sunday Telegraph
May 27, 1990, "Judgment on a Major man of letters".
One such expatriate Australians Clive James, has been widely quoted (particularly on the back of any the sequence's British paperback editions) as holding the opinion that "The Dance...was the greatest modern novel in English since (James Joyce
's) Ulysses
."
Norman Shrapnel
, in making a comparative literary point, at the same time attacks the "soap opera" idea, with the judgement: "He [Powell] lacks what Amis and most of the later English humorists have possessed - sentimentality. That would have destroyed the work." -- sentimentality being the bedrock of the soap opera genre
.
Molly again met Cap. Teddy Jeavons at the car show at the Olympia
and they latter married. Living on, as Lovell surmised, about £100 a year of her own money with Jeavons not bringing in a cent the Jevonses' kept open house at their home at South Kensington, a social no-man's land where one could meet all kinds (excepting working class types unless they were employees). It was at Lady Molly's that Widerpool first met Mildred, Mrs Haycock. Nick Jenkins re-encounters Alfred Tolland and Mark Members there.
Woman may show some discrimination about whom they sleep with, but they will marry anybody.- Peter Templer Pp. 151
There is no greater sign of innate misery than a love of teasing. Nick Jenkins. Pp. 29
Don't be so philosophical...I can't bear it. Young woman to Nick. Pp. 83
The Lewis gun may be sounding at the barricades earlier than some of your Laodicean
friends think. J.G. Quiggin. Pp. 85
Marriage
, madness
, melancholia
and gossip
ing are integral to the effect of the book.
Anthony Powell
Anthony Dymoke Powell CH, CBE was an English novelist best known for his twelve-volume work A Dance to the Music of Time, published between 1951 and 1975....
's twelve novel sequence, A Dance to the Music of Time
A Dance to the Music of Time
A Dance to the Music of Time is a twelve-volume cycle of novels by Anthony Powell, inspired by the painting of the same name by Nicolas Poussin. One of the longest works of fiction in literature, it was published between 1951 and 1975 to critical acclaim...
. A first person narrative, it is written in precise yet conversational prose. Winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize
James Tait Black Memorial Prize
Founded in 1919, the James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are among the oldest and most prestigious book prizes awarded for literature written in the English language and are Britain's oldest literary awards...
1957, At Lady Molly's is set in England of the mid 1930s and is essentially a comedy of manners, but in the background the rise of Hitler and of worldwide Fascism
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
are not ignored. The comedy is character driven and ranges from the situational to the epigrammatic. Many of the scenes are studies in embarrassment
Embarrassment
Embarrassment is an emotional state of intense discomfort with oneself, experienced upon having a socially unacceptable act or condition witnessed by or revealed to others. Usually some amount of loss of honour or dignity is involved, but how much and the type depends on the embarrassing situation...
with those involving the supremely self-important Widmerpool inducing acute embarrassment in the reader. The driving theme of At Lady Molly's is married life; marriages – as practised or mooted – among the narrator's (Nick Jenkins) acquaintances in bohemian society and the landed classes are pondered. Meanwhile the career moves of various characters are advanced, checked or put on hold.
The novel presents comparisons and relationships between the generations, which are notably burlesque
Burlesque
Burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects...
d in the engagement of Widmerpool and the older Mildred – an event that provides much scope for speculation and salacious gossip.
The portrait of the aristocratic Tolland family, sourced in part from Powell's own in-laws, the Pakenhams, is sharply painted in the manner of a conversation piece, capturing not only the personalities but the dynamics between them.
Plot summary
It is 1934 and Nick is working, without great success, as a script writer at a film company. He gets invited by a colleague, Chips Lovell, to a party at the home of Lady Molly Jeavons. There he learns that Widmerpool is to marry the twice widowed, somewhat notorious (somewhat insane according to Nick) Mrs. Mildred Haycock. Nick subsequently has to endure having to lunch with Widmerpool and fending-off questions from Widmerpool's prospective in-laws becomes, for Nick, a motifMotif (narrative)
In narrative, a motif is any recurring element that has symbolic significance in a story. Through its repetition, a motif can help produce other narrative aspects such as theme or mood....
throughout the novel. Also re-encountered at Lady Molly's gathering is old Alfred Tolland.
A chance meeting by Nick with Quiggin (at a cinema where Man of Aran
Man of Aran
Man of Aran is a fictional documentary by Robert J. Flaherty about life on the Aran Islands off the western coast of Ireland. It portrays characters living in premodern conditions, documenting their daily routines such as fishing off high cliffs, farming potatoes where there is little soil, and...
is showing) leads to a surprising and rather mysterious invitation of a weekend visit to the country. Quiggin and Mona Templer are staying, it transpires, in a cottage loaned to them by Erridge (Lord Warminster, eccentric head of the Tolland family). While there they all visit the Tolland ancestral home, Thrubworth Park, for a frugal but eventful dinner.
Just as the meal is finishing two Tolland sisters, Susan and Isobel, arrive. Some while later Nick meets Lady Molly's husband, Ted Jeavons, in a Soho pub and they visit Umfraville's nightclub. They encounter Widmerpool (suffering another bout with jaundice
Jaundice
Jaundice is a yellowish pigmentation of the skin, the conjunctival membranes over the sclerae , and other mucous membranes caused by hyperbilirubinemia . This hyperbilirubinemia subsequently causes increased levels of bilirubin in the extracellular fluid...
), Mrs Haycock and Templer.
In Autumn 1934 Jenkins becomes engaged to Isobel. Erridge, wanting to study conditions for himself, goes to China at a time when the Japanese army are undertaking offensive operations. Mona goes with him, ditching Quiggin. Widmerpool's engagement to Mildred Haycock is broken off in farcical and, to most men, crushing circumstances. However, Widmerpool remains undaunted.
Criticism
Tariq AliTariq Ali
Tariq Ali , , is a British Pakistani military historian, novelist, journalist, filmmaker, public intellectual, political campaigner, activist, and commentator...
, in what is really a defence of Powell and his work, doesn't comment about
At Lady Molly's in particular but writes of A Dance to the Music of Time
A Dance to the Music of Time
A Dance to the Music of Time is a twelve-volume cycle of novels by Anthony Powell, inspired by the painting of the same name by Nicolas Poussin. One of the longest works of fiction in literature, it was published between 1951 and 1975 to critical acclaim...
, "By the time he came to write the Dance, Powell's style had become almost antique, baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
– and that lifted the comedy to a much higher level than one finds in the early novels." Powell's early novels are described as witty whereas the "Dance" books are of a higher order because the style "had become much more reflective." Ali also remarked in the same article, "Coincidence plays an important part in the characters' many encounters. Yet, structured as art, the coincidences build up into a greater patterning."
Auberon Waugh
Auberon Waugh
Auberon Alexander Waugh was a British author and journalist, son of the novelist Evelyn Waugh. He was known to his family and friends as Bron Waugh.-Life and career:...
took exception to this reflective style complaining of the number of clauses in some of Powell's sentences and attacking the use of "the diffident double-negative" as well as the "'elegant' or dissociative inverted comma." He dismissed A Dance to the Music of Time
A Dance to the Music of Time
A Dance to the Music of Time is a twelve-volume cycle of novels by Anthony Powell, inspired by the painting of the same name by Nicolas Poussin. One of the longest works of fiction in literature, it was published between 1951 and 1975 to critical acclaim...
, At Lady Molly's not excepted, with: "As an early upmarket soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
, it undoubtedly gave comfort to a number of people, becoming something of a cult during the 1970s in the London community of expatriate Australians. Perhaps it afforded them the illusion of understanding English society, even a vicarious sense of belonging to it. If so, it was one of the cruellest practical jokes ever played by a Welshman." These remarks appeared in a piece by Auberon Waugh in the Sunday Telegraph
Sunday Telegraph
The Sunday Telegraph is a British broadsheet newspaper, founded in February 1961. It is the sister paper of The Daily Telegraph, but is run separately with a different editorial staff, although there is some cross-usage of stories...
May 27, 1990, "Judgment on a Major man of letters".
One such expatriate Australians Clive James, has been widely quoted (particularly on the back of any the sequence's British paperback editions) as holding the opinion that "The Dance...was the greatest modern novel in English since (James Joyce
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...
's) Ulysses
Ulysses (novel)
Ulysses is a novel by the Irish author James Joyce. It was first serialised in parts in the American journal The Little Review from March 1918 to December 1920, and then published in its entirety by Sylvia Beach on 2 February 1922, in Paris. One of the most important works of Modernist literature,...
."
Norman Shrapnel
Norman Shrapnel
Norman Shrapnel , was an English journalist, author, and parliamentary correspondent.Shrapnel was born in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, and was educated at The King's School, Grantham. In 1947, after war service in the RAF, he joined the Manchester Guardian as reporter, book reviewer, and theatre critic...
, in making a comparative literary point, at the same time attacks the "soap opera" idea, with the judgement: "He [Powell] lacks what Amis and most of the later English humorists have possessed - sentimentality. That would have destroyed the work." -- sentimentality being the bedrock of the soap opera genre
Genre
Genre , Greek: genos, γένος) is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or culture, e.g. music, and in general, any type of discourse, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time...
.
Characters new to the series
- General Aylmer Conyers. Known immemorially to the Jenkins family. Perhaps distant relation to Nick's mother. Disliked by Uncle Giles who, typically, regarded the General as Inclined to think a good deal of himself and that he always knew the right people to further his career. A few years short of eighty and prospective brother-in-law to WidmerpoolWidmerpoolWidmerpool is a village and civil parish in Nottinghamshire, about 10 miles south, south east of Nottingham and some 7.5 miles north east of Loughborough. It sits just over a mile west of the A46 and, as one of Nottinghamshire's oldest settlements, enjoyed that proximity to that road when it was...
. Retired from the Army around his early Fifties, shortly after getting married to Bertha Blaides. Busies himself training Poodles to be gun dogs, learning the Cello, reading the latest literary fiction (Virginia WoolfVirginia WoolfAdeline Virginia Woolf was an English author, essayist, publisher, and writer of short stories, regarded as one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the twentieth century....
's Orlando: A BiographyOrlando: A BiographyOrlando: A Biography is an influential novel by Virginia Woolf, first published on 11 October 1928. A semi-biographical novel based in part on the life of Woolf's lover Vita Sackville-West, it is generally considered one of Woolf's most accessible novels...
- Uncle Giles mentions an episode from the general's career, arming the Palace eunuchs with rook rifles, which is echoed in the ambassador scenes of Sally PotterSally PotterCharlotte Sally Potter is an English film director and screenwriter.-Career:Having left school at sixteen to become a filmmaker, Potter joined the London Film-Makers' Co-op and started making experimental short films, including Jerk and Play...
's 1997 film OrlandoOrlando (film)Orlando is a 1992 film based on Virginia Woolf's novel Orlando: A Biography, starring Tilda Swinton as Orlando, Billy Zane as Marmaduke Bonthrop Shelmerdine, and Quentin Crisp as Queen Elizabeth. It was directed by Sally Potter....
)- and studying psycho-analysis. Diagnoses WidmerpoolWidmerpoolWidmerpool is a village and civil parish in Nottinghamshire, about 10 miles south, south east of Nottingham and some 7.5 miles north east of Loughborough. It sits just over a mile west of the A46 and, as one of Nottinghamshire's oldest settlements, enjoyed that proximity to that road when it was...
as an intuitive extrovert... a classic case, almost and Nick as an introvert. Conyers is a member of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at ArmsHonourable Corps of Gentlemen at ArmsHer Majesty's Bodyguard of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms is a bodyguard to the British Monarch. Until 17 March 1834 they were known as The Honourable Band of Gentlemen Pensioners.-Formation:...
.
- Mrs. Bertha Conyers. Older sister of Mildred Haycock. A generation younger than her husband, General Conyers. They have one child, Charlotte - a rather colourless girl who marries a Naval officer in Malta. Bertha herself was one of six daughters of the late and not much lamented Lord Vowchurch, a rather grim practical joker. All six daughters lived their early lives in disgrace for none of them being a boy. Cousin to Baby Wentworth.
- Mildred Haycock, nee Blaides. Nick suspects that she is probably insane. Younger sister of Bertha Conyers. A V.A.D. during the First World War, Nick first sees her while visiting the Conyers flat with his mother towards Christmas 1916. Nick was then a schoolboy of ten and was much impressed when Mildred a young woman wearing V.A.D uniform, strode in like a grenadier. The next time he sees her he is at Lady Molly's. Mildred, who is twice widowed by then with two teenage children and has slept with every old-timer between Cannes and St. Tropez, walks into the room with her new fiancé- WidmerpoolWidmerpoolWidmerpool is a village and civil parish in Nottinghamshire, about 10 miles south, south east of Nottingham and some 7.5 miles north east of Loughborough. It sits just over a mile west of the A46 and, as one of Nottinghamshire's oldest settlements, enjoyed that proximity to that road when it was...
. During the war Mildred nursed at Dogdene where she met Lady Molly and also became close to Alice, the successive Lady Sleaford.
- Lady Molly Jeavons. Who could boast that my grandfather had ninety-seven first cousins and he was only three up my grandmother on my mother's side was an ArdglassArdglassArdglass is a coastal village in County Down, Northern Ireland and still a relatively important fishing harbour. It is situated on the B1 Ardglass to Downpatrick road, about 11 kilometres to the south east of Downpatrick, in the Lecale peninsula on the Irish Sea. It had a population of 1,668...
, sister to Jumbo Ardglass and to the present Lady Katherine Warminster. She married Lord John Sleaford,- Chips Lovell's first Sleaford Uncle- at eighteen straight from the Ballroom. The marriage was childless. Whilst Lady Sleaford she was mistress of the magnificent Sleaford seat of Dogdene. The house was used as a military hospital during the First World War. It was at this time that she got to know Mildred Blaides and also met Captain JeavonsJeavonsJeavons may refer to:* Aaron Jeavons , English cricketer* Alan Jeavons, physicist* Billy Jeavons , English footballer* Colin Jeavons , Welsh actor* Enoch Jeavons , English cricketer...
. Lord John Sleaford died of the Spanish FluSpanish fluThe 1918 flu pandemic was an influenza pandemic, and the first of the two pandemics involving H1N1 influenza virus . It was an unusually severe and deadly pandemic that spread across the world. Historical and epidemiological data are inadequate to identify the geographic origin...
in 1919 and the title passed to his brother Geoffery- Lovell's second Sleaford Uncle.
Molly again met Cap. Teddy Jeavons at the car show at the Olympia
Olympia, London
Olympia is an exhibition centre and conference centre in West Kensington, on the boundary between The Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea and Hammersmith & Fulham, London, W14 8UX, England. It opened in the 19th century and was originally known as the National Agricultural Hall.Opened in 1886,...
and they latter married. Living on, as Lovell surmised, about £100 a year of her own money with Jeavons not bringing in a cent the Jevonses' kept open house at their home at South Kensington, a social no-man's land where one could meet all kinds (excepting working class types unless they were employees). It was at Lady Molly's that Widerpool first met Mildred, Mrs Haycock. Nick Jenkins re-encounters Alfred Tolland and Mark Members there.
- Captain Teddy Jeavons. Lady Molly's second husband. Badly wounded during the war and awarded the Military MedalMilitary MedalThe Military Medal was a military decoration awarded to personnel of the British Army and other services, and formerly also to personnel of other Commonwealth countries, below commissioned rank, for bravery in battle on land....
. Nick finds him intriguing although he finds in the last resort his company was exhausting rather than stimulating and thinks of him as having a mind seething with forgotten melodies, forever stirring him to indiscretion by provoking memories of an enchanted past. Mark Members, whom Jeavons asked about snooker, offered a Gold FlakeGold Flakethumb|Bottom of Gold Flake Kings boxGold Flake is a widely-sold cigarette brand in India and Pakistan. It is sold in various varieties, including Gold Flake Kings , Gold Flake Kings Lights , Gold Flake and Gold Flake Lights. It is a well-positioned brand in India...
cigarette and tried to sell a patent device, looked upon him with absolute horror. WidmerpoolWidmerpoolWidmerpool is a village and civil parish in Nottinghamshire, about 10 miles south, south east of Nottingham and some 7.5 miles north east of Loughborough. It sits just over a mile west of the A46 and, as one of Nottinghamshire's oldest settlements, enjoyed that proximity to that road when it was...
dismisses Jeavons as a failure and dull. Later it transpires that Jeavons had a wartime fling with Mildred Blaides and there is a strong hint that he again has sex with her while she is engaged to WidmerpoolWidmerpoolWidmerpool is a village and civil parish in Nottinghamshire, about 10 miles south, south east of Nottingham and some 7.5 miles north east of Loughborough. It sits just over a mile west of the A46 and, as one of Nottinghamshire's oldest settlements, enjoyed that proximity to that road when it was...
- an act that WidmerpoolWidmerpoolWidmerpool is a village and civil parish in Nottinghamshire, about 10 miles south, south east of Nottingham and some 7.5 miles north east of Loughborough. It sits just over a mile west of the A46 and, as one of Nottinghamshire's oldest settlements, enjoyed that proximity to that road when it was...
signally fails to perform.
- Lord Alfred Warminster. Erry (short for Erridge, his first title) to his family, Alf to Quiggin. In his early thirties and most probably still a virgin. Lonely, socially inept, unkempt Left wing PeerPeerageThe Peerage is a legal system of largely hereditary titles in the United Kingdom, which constitute the ranks of British nobility and is part of the British honours system...
. Frugal and stingy in personal interaction but free with his money to those social causes that he feels passionate about - the latter a trait which makes him very attractive to J.G. Quiggin and one that Mona Templer indicates that she aims to cure him of. Egotistical, worries about his health and used to having his own way. First mention of this character was in A Buyer's MarketA Buyer's MarketA Buyer's Market is the second novel in Anthony Powell's twelve-novel series, A Dance to the Music of Time. Published in 1952, it continues the story of narrator Nick Jenkins with his introduction into society after boarding school and university....
when his name was announced at the Huntercombes party.
- Lady Frederica Budd. Widowed. Eldest of the Tolland sisters. A Lady in WaitingLady in WaitingLady in Waiting is the 2nd album by American southern rock band Outlaws, released in 1976. -Track listing:#"Breaker-Breaker" – 2:59#"South Carolina" – 3:05#"Ain't So Bad" – 3:48...
and great friend of Mrs Conyers.
- Priscilla Tolland. Youngest of the Tollands and desired by Chips Lovell
- Norah Tolland. A lesbian living with Eleanor Walpole-Wilson in some squalor at a flat in ChelseaChelsea, LondonChelsea is an area of West London, England, bounded to the south by the River Thames, where its frontage runs from Chelsea Bridge along the Chelsea Embankment, Cheyne Walk, Lots Road and Chelsea Harbour. Its eastern boundary was once defined by the River Westbourne, which is now in a pipe above...
- Susan Tolland. Turns-up with Isobel at Thrubworth and announces her engagement to Roddy Cutts (who looks into the Conservative Central Office once in a way).
- Isobel Tolland. A bit of a highbrow when she isn't going to night clubs according to Chips Lovell, Nick meets her at Thrubworth and they are engaged by the last chapter. Long legged and witty.
- Blanche Tolland. Regarded by the Tolland family as being dottyDottyDotty may refer to:*dotty, a graph editor, see Graphviz.*a fantasy novel by R. A. Lafferty....
.
- Katherine Warminster. Sister of Lady Molly. Widowed stepmother to the ten Tollands. Lives at Hyde Park GardensHyde Park GardensHyde Park Gardens consists of two roads running adjacent to the North Western corner of Hyde Park, London. Number 1 Hyde Park Gardens runs up to Number 23 with a large private communal garden and then the road separates to allow access to The Ring and into Hyde Park and the neighbouring Kensington...
where life could be ruthless... but at the same time a curtain of relatively good humour was allowed to cloak an inexorable recognition of life's inevitable severities. To Nick's mind she has an unearthly, witch-like quality. A hypochondriac, she spends most of her time in her bedroom writing lightly researched histories of powerful women - Empress Maria Theresa of Austria her current subject. Lord Warminster had spent most of their married life fishing in Iceland or pig-sticking in Bengal.
- Smith the butler. Sole working-class character, discounting Quiggin, in the book. Lacks what Bertie WoosterBertie WoosterBertram Wilberforce "Bertie" Wooster is a recurring fictional character in the Jeeves novels of British author P. G. Wodehouse. An English gentleman, one of the "idle rich" and a member of the Drones Club, he appears alongside his valet, Jeeves, whose genius manages to extricate Bertie or one of...
would call the Feudal spirit. Slovenly, alcoholic butler to Erridge. Lady Molly borrows him to help out at South KensingtonSouth KensingtonSouth Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London. It is a built-up area located 2.4 miles west south-west of Charing Cross....
from time to time. Breaks the Dresden coffee pot and is suspected of drinking the gin.
- Chips Lovell. Twenty three or four and filling-in time at the script department of a film company where Nick works. Hopes to land a job on the society pages of a newspaper. Spends most of his time talking about his aristocratic cousins. Amorously interested in Priscilla Tolland
- Heather Hopkins. Lesbian Cabaret performer. Plays piano with brutal violence but a great deal of facility. Appears in an act with Max Pilgrim at Dickie Umfraville's night club. Neighbour of Norah Tolland and Eleanor Walpole-Wilson.
- Mrs. Betty Taylor or Porter. Peter Templer's new girlfriend whose last name he can't remember although he regards her as rather a peach.
- Maisky. Lady Molly's pet monkey.
Established characters
- Alfred Tolland. Brother-in-law to Lady Molly who teases him mercilessly about his nieces and nephews. Has unexpected depths.
- Max Pilgrim. Sings one of his 'sophisticated' comic songs (about a lesbian), accompanied by Heather Hopkins on piano, at UmfravilleUmfravilleUmfraville, the name of an English baronial family, derived from Amfreville in Normandy. Members of this family obtained lands in Northumberland, including Redesdale and Prudhoe, from the Norman kings, and a later member, Gilbert de Umfraville , married Matilda, daughter of Malcolm, earl of Angus,...
's.
- Miss Weedon. Much in evidence at Lady Molly's. Has a plan to cure Stringham of his alcoholismAlcoholismAlcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
.
- Elenor Walpole Wilson. Living with Norah Tolland. Dislikes Heather Hopkins. Now in a position to feel sorry for Barbara (Goring) Pardoe due to problems in the latter's marriage.
- Dickie Umfraville. Now managing a night club of dubious legality in SohoSohoSoho is an area of the City of Westminster and part of the West End of London. Long established as an entertainment district, for much of the 20th century Soho had a reputation for sex shops as well as night life and film industry. Since the early 1980s, the area has undergone considerable...
. Divorced from Lady Anne Stepney who, he says, didn't like grown-up life- and who can blame her?.
- Peter Templer. Meets Nick at UmfravilleUmfravilleUmfraville, the name of an English baronial family, derived from Amfreville in Normandy. Members of this family obtained lands in Northumberland, including Redesdale and Prudhoe, from the Norman kings, and a later member, Gilbert de Umfraville , married Matilda, daughter of Malcolm, earl of Angus,...
's night club.
- Mona Templer. Living in a cottage with Quiggin on Erridge's Thrubworth estate. Bored, she fancies becoming a film star but runs off to China with Erridge instead.
- Mark Members. No longer writing Freudian-inspired verse and has thrown over his half-hearted adherence to communism. Now he has a variety of jobs of a literary kind which keep him in funds. Trying to move up in the social world which is why he regards the people he meets at Lady Molly's reception as being great disappointments.
- Quiggin. Now a well-regarded critic, although his Unburnt Boats remains a work in progress. He has become a hanger on of Erridge, Alf Warminster, whom he hopes will finance a new magazine with Quiggin as director. His Left wing bombast and odd regional idioms reach new heights.
- WidmerpoolKenneth WidmerpoolKenneth Widmerpool is a fictional character in Anthony Powell's sequence of novels, A Dance to the Music of Time.The author's most famous creation, Widmerpool appears in all twelve books comprising the cycle...
. Becomes engaged, contracts jaundiceJaundiceJaundice is a yellowish pigmentation of the skin, the conjunctival membranes over the sclerae , and other mucous membranes caused by hyperbilirubinemia . This hyperbilirubinemia subsequently causes increased levels of bilirubin in the extracellular fluid...
- again, see A Buyer's MarketA Buyer's MarketA Buyer's Market is the second novel in Anthony Powell's twelve-novel series, A Dance to the Music of Time. Published in 1952, it continues the story of narrator Nick Jenkins with his introduction into society after boarding school and university....
-, gets cuckoldCuckoldCuckold is a historically derogatory term for a man who has an unfaithful wife. The word, which has been in recorded use since the 13th century, derives from the cuckoo bird, some varieties of which lay their eggs in other birds' nests...
ed and then jilted. Has a terrible and dramatic scene at Dogdene. Politically he is an Appeaser.
- Nick Jenkins. His twenty-eight-year-old (or thereabouts) self has become more assertive and outspoken when interacting with his contemporaries (although Widmerpool still renders him speechless).
Quotes
All men are brothers, but, thank God, they aren't all brothers-in-law. - Peter Templer. Pp 160.Woman may show some discrimination about whom they sleep with, but they will marry anybody.- Peter Templer Pp. 151
There is no greater sign of innate misery than a love of teasing. Nick Jenkins. Pp. 29
Don't be so philosophical...I can't bear it. Young woman to Nick. Pp. 83
The Lewis gun may be sounding at the barricades earlier than some of your Laodicean
Laodicean Church
The Laodicean Church was a Christian community established in the ancient city of Laodicea . The church was established in the earliest period of Christianity, and is probably best known for being one of the seven churches addressed by name in the Book of Revelation The Laodicean Church was a...
friends think. J.G. Quiggin. Pp. 85
Themes
"What, then, is the central theme of the series? Creativity - the act of production. Of literature, of books, of paintings, of music; that is what most of the central characters are engaged in for the whole of their lives. Moreland composes, Barnby paints, X Trapnel writes, Quiggin, Members and Maclintick criticise and the narrator publishes books and then becomes a writer. What excites the novelist is music and painting, literature and criticism. It's this creativity, together with the comedy of everyday life, that sustains the Dance" Of the characters mentioned above, the narrator (Nick), Members—a poet as well as a critic, Quiggin and Barnby all appear or are quoted in At Lady Molly's.Marriage
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
, madness
Insanity
Insanity, craziness or madness is a spectrum of behaviors characterized by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity may manifest as violations of societal norms, including becoming a danger to themselves and others, though not all such acts are considered insanity...
, melancholia
Melancholia
Melancholia , also lugubriousness, from the Latin lugere, to mourn; moroseness, from the Latin morosus, self-willed, fastidious habit; wistfulness, from old English wist: intent, or saturnine, , in contemporary usage, is a mood disorder of non-specific depression,...
and gossip
Gossip
Gossip is idle talk or rumour, especially about the personal or private affairs of others, It is one of the oldest and most common means of sharing facts and views, but also has a reputation for the introduction of errors and variations into the information transmitted...
ing are integral to the effect of the book.
See also
- Orlando: A BiographyOrlando: A BiographyOrlando: A Biography is an influential novel by Virginia Woolf, first published on 11 October 1928. A semi-biographical novel based in part on the life of Woolf's lover Vita Sackville-West, it is generally considered one of Woolf's most accessible novels...
by Virginia WoolfVirginia WoolfAdeline Virginia Woolf was an English author, essayist, publisher, and writer of short stories, regarded as one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the twentieth century.... - OrlandoOrlando (film)Orlando is a 1992 film based on Virginia Woolf's novel Orlando: A Biography, starring Tilda Swinton as Orlando, Billy Zane as Marmaduke Bonthrop Shelmerdine, and Quentin Crisp as Queen Elizabeth. It was directed by Sally Potter....
A film by Sally PotterSally PotterCharlotte Sally Potter is an English film director and screenwriter.-Career:Having left school at sixteen to become a filmmaker, Potter joined the London Film-Makers' Co-op and started making experimental short films, including Jerk and Play...