POWELL, ANTHONY

born Dec. 21, 1905, London, Eng. in full Anthony Dymoke Powell English novelist, best known for his autobiographical and satiric 12-volume series of novels, A Dance to the Music of Time. As a child, Powell lived wherever his father, a regular officer in the Welsh Regiment, was stationed. He attended Eton College from 1919 to 1923 and Balliol College, Oxford, from 1923 to 1926. Thereafter he joined the London publishing house of Duckworth, which published his first novel, Afternoon Men (1931); the book was a satire of the aimless and disorderly lives of would-be artists and other bohemians in Chelsea. Powell left publishing for journalism in 1936, writing for the Daily Telegraph and other newspapers. He then published What's Become of Waring? (1939), a polished comic treatment of scandal and financial crisis within a minor publishing firm. After serving in World War II, Powell published John Aubrey and His Friends (1948), a biographical study of the 17th-century author of Brief Lives. In 1951 he published A Question of Upbringing, the first part of his 12-volume novel. The series' first-person narrative reflects Powell's own outlook and experiences; he observes and describes English society in the decades before and after World War II with wit and insight, using a subtle, low-key style. The 12-volume series ended with the publication of Hearing Secret Harmonies in 1975. Powell afterward continued to write novels and also authored several original dramas.