First published in 1962 (London: Heinemann, New York: Little, Brown)
As a boy, Nick Jenkins was taught that the Greeks so feared the Furies that they referred to them as the Eumenides — the Kindly Ones — in an attempt at appeasement. In The Kindly Ones, Anthony Powell depicts the two great moments from his lifetime when Britain stood on the brink of a furious conflict that some hoped to avoid through appeasement.
The book’s opening chapter is a flashback to June 28, 1914, the Sunday on which Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated in Sarajevo. If the news seems remote and conveyed in fragments, among Army men like Nick’s father, General Conyers, and even Uncle Giles, there is an awareness of the exceptional costs inflicted in any war. Even Nick’s mother and Mrs. Conyers, both Army wives, show signs of apprehension. And the chapter’s last paragraph offers a grim reminder of the coming war’s bill: “The Fenwick’s father was killed; Mary Barber’s father was killed; Richard Vaughan’s father was killed; the Westmacott twins’ father was killed.”
In contrast, Nick’s contemporaries as an adult are less concerned by the potential conflict in their future. If, at the start of chapter two, Moreland is discoursing “on the theme that action, stemming from sluggish, invisible sources, moves towards destinations no less indefinable,” he has music — Stravinsky — and art — the Surrealists — in mind. Another bellwether event, the Munich agreement regarding Czechoslovakia, has just occurred, but it plays little role in their discussions. Indeed, up to the outbreak of the second war in Europe, which has just taken place as chapter four opens, the only character who seems seriously concerned with the prospect of war is Widmerpool, who disrupts the bacchanalian photo shoot with Sir Magnus Donners at Stourwater, arriving in his Territorials uniform. (Although no foresight should be attributed to him, given some of his absurd pronouncements in earlier volumes. Anyone so habituated to making predictions as Widmerpool can’t help but be right once in a while.)
In both the flashback to June 1914 and Nick’s retelling of events from 1938 and 1939, there are clues that the status quo antebellum is untenable. Stonehurst is haunted by ghosts (of an imperial past?). The appearance of Dr. Trelawney’s nascent cult suggests that old certainties of church and religion are losing hold. Billson’s breakdown reveals the fragility of the surface of Edwardian proprieties. Moreland’s marriage to Matilda, shaky from the start, collapses soon after the afternoon at Stourwater. Bob Duport’s hopes of arranging another international trade deal most likely to succeed than his previous one. Age and sickness puts Dr. Trelawney’s belief in eternal life to a test. Even Nick’s understanding of his relationship with Jean from years back is shaken when Bob Duport confides that she began an affair with Jimmy Brent while still carrying on one with Nick. Not only is what the future holds uncertain, but for almost no one does the present seem to be a stable base to return to. The centre cannot hold, as Yeats wrote.
The Kindly Ones follows the same four chapter structure as Casanova’s Chinese Restaurant, with the first three chapters centered on a place and event.
- Chapter 1. Nick recalls the events of June 28, 1914 at Stonehurst, the isolated villa near Aldershot where his family was staying. Albert, who mostly works as the cook, and the other servants are preparing for a visit by General Conyers and his wife, old friends of Nick’s parents. We learn that several of the maids and Nick’s mother believe the house is haunted. In addition, Billson, the current maid, is in a state of romantic anxiety over Albert and, during the course of the luncheon for the Conyers, walks into the dining room naked. Uncle Giles arrives unexpectedly, as usual with pressing money problems. On their way out the drive, the Conyers encounter a running group led by Dr. Trelawney, with whom, to everyone’s surprise, General Conyers turns out to be acquainted. Nick closes the chapter by listing the casualties among the families he knew at the time.
- Chapter 2. October 1938, just after the Munich conference. A chance meeting with Matilda Moreland leads to an invitation to spend the weekend at the Moreland’s country cottage. Peter Templer arrives with his new wife, Betty, who he complains of having “jumpy fits.” Together, they drive over to Stourwater for a Sunday lunch with Sir Magnus Donners and his latest mistress, Anne Umphraville. The four couples decide to enact the Seven Deadly Sins as tableaux vivants, with Sir Magnus as photographer. Betty Templer has a “jumpy fit” and Widmerpool brings the session to an end when he arrives, wearing his Territorials uniform, with papers for Sir Magnus.
- Chapter 3. Summer 1939. Nick travels to a seaside hotel to settle the affairs of Uncle Giles. He encounters Bob Duport, trying to lay low between deals, who unburdens himself to an extent Nick finds uncomfortable. Dr. Trelawney turns out to be another resident of the hotel, and he has an asthma attack while locked in a bathroom. Mrs. Erdleigh arrives, proving once again to have otherworldly understanding of situations.
- Chapter 4. Late September or early October 1939. In the days after the invasion of Poland and the outbreak of war, Nick attempts to gain entry into the Army as an officer. General Conyers not only declines to help but informs Nick that he is about to be married to Charles Stringham’s old governess, Miss Weedon. Widmerpool refuses to help, jealously guarding his own prospects for advancement. Finally, unexpected aid comes via Ted Jeavons, Lady Molly’s husband, who puts Nick in contact with his brother Stanley, somewhat mysteriously involved in placing Reservists in the Army.
The next three volumes — The Valley of Bones, The Soldier’s Art, and The Military Philosophers — form a trilogy within A Dance, carrying Nick and the rest of the ensemble through World War Two, a journey not all of them will complete.