Basic Introduction Chinese Name: Dancing with the Song of Time Creation Year: Modern Works Genre: Novel Author: Anthony Powell's Works, Summary of Contents, Appreciation of Works, Author's Brief Introduction, Name of Works: Dancing with the Song of Time The summary of contents is described by the first person, and the protagonist is Nicholas Jenkins. Education tells the story of Jenkins' learning experience in middle school, university and France. He has two friends, Charles Stringham and Peter Templar, who live a carefree and happy life together, in sharp contrast to another student, Kenneth Widdemer Poole, who is serious and pursues fame and fortune. Jenkins and others can get a good education by virtue of their aristocratic background, and their future success in their careers is inevitable. Widdemer Poole is different. His class status is low, and his father is just a fertilizer dealer. However, his pursuit of money and power was successful, which made the hero confused and self-deprecating, and deeply felt that the changes brought by time were unfathomable. A considerable part of the buyer's market is about parties, banquets and dances. Jenkins is a 22-year-old young man who works in a publishing house and plans to write a novel. But like other characters in the book, he takes nightlife as his main life content. At a party, Jenkins had an argument with others. His leaflet "Not worth fighting" was blown away by the wind, which alarmed the communicators present, symbolizing that social change and radical ideas inevitably affected the upper class. Jenkins had sex with a woman for the first time and was no longer a virgin. Jenkins achieved his first success in writing in The Heirs' World. His works have been published. He also gained something in love, having an affair with the sister of the Templar. Widdemer Poole is quite proud in business, but has repeatedly failed in love. In At Ms. Molly's House, Widdemer Poole's love is even more frustrated, which clearly shows that his lifestyle is not blessed by God. On the contrary, Jenkins fell in love with isobel, the daughter of Lord Warminster, and soon got engaged. During his career, Jenkins turned from publishing to writing screenplays and finished his second novel. At this time, it was 1934. Jenkins, who was nearly 30 years old, found that he had white hair for the first time. Friends made him aware of the political situation in society, and traditional values seemed to be threatened. The Chinese restaurant in Casanova introduces the married Jenkins, and describes the marriage relationship of several couples including King Edward and Mrs Simpson. Although these two have never officially appeared, they have played a certain role in revealing the theme: the relationship between men and women can only bring discomfort or even misfortune. Jenkins got to know the composer Molander and learned about the artist's lifestyle. By comparing with the aristocratic lifestyle, Jenkins further demonstrated the social differentiation at that time. "Good Samaritan" has made a leap in time, so it has become the prelude to the next three war novels. The Good Man tells the story of Jenkins' childhood. He lives in Hearst, Si Tong, and his father is stationed in nearby Aldershot. The troops are ready to go to the battlefield of World War I. Time played a little joke. Several years later, on the eve of World War II, people still felt the same atmosphere and heard the same rumors. Time is like drawing a circle here, and everything is like repetition. Jenkins, like his father, insisted on joining the army to defend his motherland. Widdemer Poole joined the army. The spirit of serving the existing system was ridiculed as the remnants of feudal thought. The war trilogy "Valley of Bones", "The Art of Soldiers" and "Military Philosopher" still tells the military life far from the battlefield with a leisurely narrative tone. The most ironic plot is that Widdemer Poole rose to the highest level in the army, and Jenkins, Stringham and the Templar all became his subordinates. Stringham, who was cute and likable in his early years, became depressed and worked as a waiter in the canteen. The Templar was originally engaged in the financial industry, but his attitude towards Widdemer Poole changed greatly after he joined the army. Later, he was sent by Wei to carry out secret operations and was killed. Stringham was also killed. Both deaths were related to Widdemer Poole. Pamela Frieden is a character who has appeared and become the protagonist of this book. She slept with various officers and eventually became Widdemer Poole's wife. Books can really decorate the room. They have walked out of the war and described the social life after 1945. Widdemer Poole was made a lifelong aristocrat, and Pamela was very proud. She continued to lead a dissolute life, associating with all kinds of people. Jenkins retired from the army and returned to his original job, leading a scholar's life. He began to collect information about Robert Burton and planned to write a book for him. The Temporary King brought readers to the late 1950s, and Jenkins was over 50 years old. His son is approaching the age of enlistment. Pamela, who has an active personality, took an overdose after a lovelorn affair, ending her frenzied life. Molander also died after a long illness. After World War II, British society was portrayed as comedy in the first performances of some new characters. Daniel Tokanhouse, a retired military officer, and Bagshaw, known as "A book can really make a room", are both vivid and interesting characters in the book. In his last work, Listening to the Dark Chorus, Widdemer Poole experienced great psychological changes. He gave up his secular life and joined a superstitious group keen on mysterious rituals. He has lost a lot of sense, but he is still full of energy. Finally, he died of running too hard, less than 70 years old. Jenkins' later years were quite peaceful. He is gentle, serene, considerate, has independent thoughts and a creative skill, and is a person with perfect personality. Jenkins finally watched fireworks in his country house. The scattered smoke reminded him of the scene when he opened the book: the street sweeper sat by the fire to keep warm. The fire and smoke at that time made him daydream about the law of life and the change of time; At this time, Jenkins once again thought of the strange relationship between life and time. He sighed: "In the silence of winter, even the symmetrical movement of the four seasons seems to have stopped." The appreciation of works dancing with the music of time is a whole and inseparable. It is like Proust's masterpiece Memories of Lost Years. Readers must read the whole article to appreciate the beauty of the work. Although the hero of the novel is Nicholas Jenkins, in fact, in the nearly 40 years from the early 1920s to the late 1950s, the role mentioned in the title of the novel did play a leading role: time. Therefore, this multi-volume work is often called "Song of Time". In The Problem of Parenting, Jenkins clearly said: "Four seasons, arm in arm, facing outward, dancing with the melody played by the naked elderly with wings." In fact, this is a literary description of Pu Sang's paintings. The author thinks that this painting shows the relationship between time and life: "Some people, like the gods of the four seasons, face outward and move arm in arm according to the complicated rhythm." This is how the vast dance of time is organized. All the works have consumed the writer for 24 years, depicting the life picture of British society from the beginning to the middle of the twentieth century. This multi-volume book is very particular about its structure, and the author pays special attention to the integrity and coherence of the narrative. The first novel "Education" uses fire as a medium, which leads to the protagonist's reverie of ancient times ("I don't know why, the scene of snowflakes falling into the fire always reminds me of the ancient world …"), while the last novel "Listening to the Dark Chorus" ends with fireworks as a command, and mentions the cycle of the four seasons again (implying the god of the four seasons). On the surface, the personnel changes in Cang Sang are quite regular, just like four goddesses dancing in circles in the same place. In fact, no one can tell the tricks played by time. As a narrator, Jenkins has seen the experiences of various characters, none of which can be controlled by himself. Regarding the two disastrous world wars, no one can foresee the great damage they caused to mankind. The title of the sixth novel is "Good People", but "Good People" refers to three goddesses who specialize in revenge. As the initiator of the war, "good people" led to a trilogy about the war and described the two world wars. Two friends of Jenkins were killed in the war. Time always arranges people's fate unexpectedly. The narrative method of dancing with the music of time has been warmly commented by critics. Although it is a bit risky to use only one narrator in 12 epic, there is a great danger of monotonous tone and narrow perspective, but critics have to admit that the author has properly handled the relationship between narrator and narrative and avoided the above possibility. First of all, the author endows Jenkins with a gentle personality. He is objective, considerate, insightful and has a good sense of humor. He never jumps to conclusions from others, but observes the words and deeds of the characters together with the readers, so that they are exposed. Secondly, the author "observes" Jenkins through other characters, thus making readers feel that not all the descriptions in the book were chosen by Jenkins. The content of the work is selected. As a nobleman, Powell chooses themes among things he is familiar with, and the characters in Song of Time are mainly upper-class people. Therefore, Song of Time is an autobiographical work. Comparing the experiences of Jenkins and Powell, they have many similarities. However, the narrative method of the work is quite cautious and introverted, which reflects the author's elegant demeanor and detached attitude. However, some critics regard this as a defect of the work, and think that this caution and restraint comes from the inconsistency of narrative tone (Jenkins sometimes narrates as a participant and sometimes speaks as a bystander of the author himself). Powell, who is good at writing autobiographical novels, has published his multi-volume memoir "Don't Stop" since 1976, and the first book "Baby in Spring" (1976) has revealed the similarities with "Song of Time", which has aroused the interest of critics and readers. Critics regard Don't Stop as a "real autobiography", while Song of Time is a "fictional autobiography". "Fictional autobiography" has high literary value. American critics praised his elegant style, saying that it was full of "elegance, charm and implicit humor" and was "one of the important literary achievements in the mid-20th century". Evelyn waugh, Powell's friend and famous writer, commented on Song of Time: "It is more realistic and interesting than Memories of Lost Years", and it is "objective, calm, humorous, exquisitely structured and accurate, and it is a perfect English novel". Author introduction Anthony Powell, English novelist and playwright. 190565438+February 2 1 Born in London. My father is a British officer, and my ancestor is a famous aristocratic family in Wales. 1923 to 1926 studied at Oxford university and obtained a bachelor's degree in history. After graduation, I worked in Duckworth Publishing House in London 10 years. During this period, Powell wrote five novels, the first four of which were published by Duckworth Publishing House. The four novels are People in the Afternoon (193 1), Fort Venus (1932), From Observation to Death (1933) and Agents and Patients (1933). These works reflect Powell's satirical features and his tendency to take young people as the leading role. 1934, Powell married Miss Parkenham and became a member of another noble family, thus entering the literary circle in London. After 1936, Powell wrote for newspapers such as the Daily Telegraph and was employed by Warner Bros. Film Company. 1937, the powells went to Hollywood for three months to meet Hemingway and Fitzgerald. After the outbreak of World War II, Powell insisted on joining the army. He served as an officer in the Welsh Legion and later as a liaison officer in the War Department, and won several war medals. After the war, he began to write again. 1948 published1Biography of John Aubrey and his friends in the 7th century, and edited "The Short Life of John Aubrey-Selected Works" (1949). Later, he found inspiration in Pu Sang's paintings in the Wallace Collection in London, and named his masterpiece Dancing with the Music of Time. In addition, Powell also wrote the drama "God of the Garden" (197 1) and his multi-volume memoir "Don't Stop".