Hearing Secrets Harmonies by Anthony Powell Sublime…you can almost Hear the Secret Harmonies…

 Hearing Secrets Harmonies by Anthony Powell

Sublime…you can almost Hear the Secret Harmonies…

Alas, this is the last of twelve volumes in the magnificent series A Dance to the Music of Time by the divine Anthony Powell

-          The English Proust- this is how he was regarded by critics

Indeed, his chef d’oeuvre compares well with Remembrance of Things Past, probably the best novel ever written.
We have said goodbye to a number of main characters in the eleven previous volumes, starting with Charles Stringham.
We meet his sister again and Flavia- I cannot remember her other name- is now the mother-in-law of Widmerpool.
The Harmonies mentioned in the title refer to a theme that has appeared in the first part and throughout a Dance to the Music of Time.
Scorpio Murtlock that only makes an impressive, but belated appearance in the final tome is the third “occultist” to appear in the series
He follows in the footsteps of Dr. Trelawney, who was a colorful presence in previous titles and has a worthy “descendant” in Scorp.
There are funny runs in nature, with members of the cult led by Scorpio going about in the nude and even breaking into a wedding party.
The unbelievable transformation that takes place involves Kenneth Widmerpool, now Lord Widmerpool.
He wants others to call him Ken, dismissing the aristocratic title, for now he has become a rebel and an insurgent.

This is the man who represented the Evil in almost Pure Form, throughout all of A Dance to the Music of Time.
He was responsible in good part for the death of Charles Stringham and in an unquantifiable measure for his wife’s demise- Pamela.
Karma is responsible for what you get back, at least according to Buddhist believes and if you have been awful, you have to pay for it.
It is not pleasant to say that I liked the payback that Lord Widmerpool gets, but there it is... the monster deserved it.
At one point, he is anointed as head of a university and the ceremony is pompous and resplendent, until the Quiggin twins throw paint over him.
With this rascal behaving as I knew him from previous chapters, I was expecting and outraged bully to pour down all the magma and fire from hell.
Well, he does the opposite, seeing as he is transformed and on the way to Harmony and the godhead of the true…
-          The Essence of the All is the Godhead of the True
This is how cult members greet each other and Lord Widmerpool becomes a follower in one of the most unexpected turns of events.
After the paint throwing incident, the dean of the university keeps the signs on his body and starts dressing provocatively…that is the way the old Widmerpool was in the past.
He brings the Quiggin twins to a soiree where a literary Donner prize was awarded and speaks about his new anarchist views.
As he speaks and horrifies his audience, with his ostentatious clothes- a red pullover at a black tie dinner- and his specifying, that was not in the program and anyway veered off the subject and into wild territory, something else happens

-          The young twins throw in the middle of an upscale ceremony a stink bomb

There are other clashes and strange occurrences, some around the above mentioned group formed around Scorpio Murtlock.
There are bizarre rituals around places that have historical significance and legends around them, where some locals are scared to death by the appearance of spectres with horns, near locations which anyway had enjoyed a reputation of being haunted.
Members of the cult have to have sex with each other- all present with all the rest! - Including poor Lord Widmerpool- who has by now become Ken, pure and simple.

A climax is reached when a party of dirty, peculiar men and women dressed in robes show up in the middle of a wedding that takes place in a castle, which I imagine to be like Downton Abbey and the clash is funny.

Stupendous, exhilarating, enchanting, resplendent work…I could go on for a while with synonyms, but you’ve got my meaning by now.

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