The Military Philosophers

The Military Philosophers is the ninth of Anthony Powell's twelve-novel sequence A Dance to the Music of Time. First published in 1968, it covers the latter part of Nicholas Jenkins' service in World War II.[1] It is the last in Powell's war trilogy,[2] and Jenkins is assigned to a War Office Section with the Allies of World War II.[3]

The Military Philosophers
AuthorAnthony Powell
Cover artistJames Broom-Lynne
CountryUnited Kingdom
SeriesA Dance to the Music of Time
PublisherHeinemann
Publication date
1968
Preceded byThe Soldier's Art 
Followed byBooks Do Furnish a Room 

Jenkins has a desk job in Whitehall in acting as a liaison officer first with the Poles and later with the Belgians and Czechs.[4] In the background of the narrative he is reading Athenae Oxonienses by Anthony Wood, Brief Historical Relation of State Affairs: from September 1678 to April 1714 by Narcissus Luttrell and Marcel Proust.

The novel begins with a teletype message that small detachments of Poles were crossing the USSR frontier into Iraq. Pamela Flitton, a driver for the ATS, drives Jenkins to the second Bureau of the Polish GHQ. Jenkins realizes that she is Charles Stringham's niece. She informs him that Stringham had not been heard from since he was posted to Singapore.


Writing in The New York Review, John Gross observed, "The Military Philosophers represents a return to Powell’s most accomplished comic vein. It is also, on occasion, unexpectedly moving—unexpectedly, because both Powell’s principal literary modes depend to a large degree for their success on a positive withholding of sympathy."[5]

The Military Philosophers is dedicated to Georgina Ward, the actress who appeared in the theatrical version of Powell's novel, Afternoon Men. [6]

References
  1. Barnes, Simon, "Magic in Action: Coincidences in A Dance to the Music of Time." Secret Harmonies 10(Spring 2023):149-157.
  2. Stacey, Bernard. War Dance : A Glossary of the Military Terms and References in the War Trilogy Novels in Anthony Powell's "A Dance to the Music of Time." Greenford: Anthony Powell Society; 2017.
  3. The Military Philosophers Kirkus Reviews. (March 1969).
  4. Moore, John Rees. “Anthony Powell’s England: A Dance to the Music of Time.” The Hollins Critic. 8, no. 4 (1971): 1–16.
  5. Gross, John. (April 24, 1969). "Lieutenants and Luftmenschen" New York Review.
  6. Jay, Mike. (2013) "Who Were the Dedicatees of Powell’s Works?" The Anthony Powell Society Newsletter.50 (spring): 9-10.


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