Kenneth Widmerpool

Kenneth Widmerpool is a fictional character in Anthony Powell’s novel sequence A Dance to the Music of Time. The 12-volume account of upper-class and bohemian life in Britain between 1920 and 1970 is regarded as one of the more memorable characters of 20th century fiction. The sequence ends with his downfall and death, in circumstances arising from his involvement with a New Age-type cult.

About Kenneth Widmerpool in brief

Kenneth Widmerpool is a fictional character in Anthony Powell’s novel sequence A Dance to the Music of Time. The 12-volume account of upper-class and bohemian life in Britain between 1920 and 1970 is regarded as one of the more memorable characters of 20th century fiction. Initially presented as a comic, even pathetic figure, he becomes increasingly formidable, powerful and ultimately sinister as the novels progress. The sequence ends with his downfall and death, in circumstances arising from his involvement with a New Age-type cult. He is thought to embody many of the worst aspects of the British character. He has been portrayed in two British Broadcasting Corporation radio dramatisations of the novel sequence and in Channel 4’s television filmed version broadcast in 1997. The novel sequence comprises 12 volumes spanning a period of approximately 50 years; from the early 1920s to the first years of the 1970s. The first three volumes are set in the 1920s and follow the main characters through school, university and their first steps towards social and professional acceptance. The next three are placed in the 1930s; the protagonists become established, put down roots, watch the international situation anxiously and prepare for war. In the final book he is running again, this time at the behest of a quasi-religious cult, which has claimed him that has been assumed by many critics to derive from a 17th-century Colonel Hutchinson, which features in the Memoirs of Captain Hutchinson. In a 1978 interview Powell said he first came across the name in a 17-century book, Life of a Horse, a memoirs of a Colonel Hutchinson of the 17th century, which featured a Captain Hutchinson of which many critics have claimed to derive the name from.

The name was used to refer to a soldier of the same era, Captain Hutchinson, who was killed in the Battle of the Somme in 17th Century. The title of the series is taken from Nicolas Poussin’s 1634–36 painting of the. same name. The final three books cover the 25 years from early days of the post-war Attlee government to the counterculture and protests of the early 1970s, The series itself was published between 1951 and 1975. Apart from Jenkins, Widmer pool is the only one of 300-odd characters who takes part in the action of each of the 12 volumes. During the long narrative, the focus changes frequently from one group to another; new faces appear while established characters are written out, sometimes reappearing after many volumes, sometimes not at all, though news of their doings may reach Jenkins, through one or other of his many acquaintances. In a 1971 study of the novels, the journalist and editor Dan McLeod summarised the theme of the sequence as that of a decaying establishment, confronted by aggressive representatives from the middle classes elbowing their way up. The latter are prepared to suffer any number of indignities in their pursuit of power but the establishment proves capable of resisting the advance of these outsiders.

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