The Kindly Ones

The Kindly Ones, sixth installment of The Dance to the Music of Times takes its name from the polite name the Greeks gave to the Furies.  Although not strictly accurately, they here represent War, and Powell book-ends the novel with the beginnings of WWI and WWII.

We start with Nick Jenkins as a boy, during the time immediately before the assassination of Arch-Duke Ferdinand.  War permeates the atmosphere of this section, even if it's not much openly discussed.  Powell has General Conyers visit, Nick's Uncle Giles (a former soldier) makes an appearance, and so on.  At the beginning of the novel, there's a humorous bit where Albert the butler is closing up the house in case "they" make a raid, but it turns out that "they" in this case are the suffragettes.  This section ends with the assassination of the Arch-Duke, and Nick gives us a list of acquaintances who will die during the War.

We then jump forward to just before WWII, where the next two sections take place.  War is again in the atmosphere, and again, not necessarily directly.  The interesting thing about these books has always been how Powell gives us a view of every-day life in which people aren't always particularly affected by the great goings-on in the world around them.  However, we can see the build-up in side references to Magnus Donner's planning to make a fortune off armaments, as well as constant references to Munich.

In the last section, war has actually broken out.  I think that the first section works as a sort of "past as prologue."  Just as Nick ended the first part with a list of those who would get hurt by WWI, I think we're supposed to imagine a list like that coming for WWII, which will actually be covered in later volumes.  To relieve the general grimness, Widmerpool is here at his most humorous, a touch I certainly appreciated.