History Literature / ADanceToTheMusicOfTime

%%* AnythingThatMoves: Dear god, Pamela.

* AuthorAvatar: Nick, for Anthony Powell.

%%* {{Geek}}/{{Nerd}} Widmerpool.

%%* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters

* TheDogBitesBack: When Widmerpool climbs to a position of power in the military he [[spoiler: manages to send both Peter and Charles to their deaths [[DisproportionateRetribution for the way they treated him at school]]]].

* HappilyMarried: Nick and Isabel, in contrast to almost everyone else.

* SecondLove: Isabel, to Nick.

%%* PeepingTom: Widmerpool, also Sir Magnus Donners.

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* TheAlcoholic: Charles Stringham.
* AnythingThatMoves: Dear god, Pamela.

* BigFancyHouse : The Tollands own one, also Sir Magnus Donners' house keeps coming up.
* ButtMonkey: Might just be Widmerpool's defining characteristic.
* TheCasanova: Peter Templer.
* CloudCuckooLander: General Liddament.

* {{Doorstopper}}.
* {{Dramedy}}.
* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler: Maclintick, Captain Biggs, and Pamela (probably).]]

* FemmeFatale: Pamela.

* FullFrontalAssault: A few of the women do this, to the point where it becomes kind of a motif.
* {{Geek}}/{{Nerd}} Widmerpool.

* ILoveTheDead : Allegedly [[spoiler: Russell Gwinnett]].
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters

* OfficerAndAGentleman: Nick and his father before him.
* OneDegreeOfSeparation
* OutWithABang: [[spoiler: Ferrand-Seneschal and Pamela. ]]
* PeepingTom: Widmerpool, also Sir Magnus Donners.
* RichBitch: Pamela.
* RomanAClef

* UnsexySadist: Scorp Murtlock.
* TheVamp: Pamela again.
* UsefulNotes/WorldWarII

* AnOfficerAndAGentleman: Nick and his father before him.

* StylisticSuck: The novels of St. John Clarke (a[[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed parody]] of [[{{Literature/TheForsyteSaga John Galsworthy}}]]), who "confines himself to the dullest of dull ideas."

* StylisticSuck: The novels of St. John Clarke (a parody of [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed John Galsworthy]], who "confines himself to the dullest of dull ideas."

* TheAlcoholic: Charles Stringham
* AnOfficerAndAGentleman: Nick and his father before him
* AnythingThatMoves: Dear god, Pamela
* BigFancyHouse : The Tollands own one, also Sir Magnus Donners' house keeps coming up
* ButtMonkey: Might just be Widmerpool's defining characteristic
* TheCasanova: Peter Templer
* CloudCuckooLander: General Liddament
* UsefulNotes/ColdWar: Referenced a lot in the last movement
* TheDogBitesBack: When Widmerpool climbs to a position of power in the military he [[spoiler: manages to send both Peter and Charles to their deaths [[DisproportionateRetribution for the way they treated him at school]]]]
* {{Doorstopper}}
* {{Dramedy}}

* EveryoneHasLotsOfSex: As some of the other tropes on this page will attest
* FemmeFatale: Pamela

* FullFrontalAssault: A few of the women do this, to the point where it becomes kind of a motif
* {{Geek}}/{{Nerd}} Widmerpool
* GenteelInterbellumSetting: The first few books are set between the wars
* GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion: The flipside is on display here in that the women who get abortions are definitely bad girls
* HappilyMarried: Nick and Isabel, in contrast to almost everyone else
* ILoveTheDead : Allegedly [[spoiler: Russell Gwinnett]]

* MoodWhiplash: The books mix together the satirical and the soap operatic

* OutWithABang: [[spoiler: Ferrand-Seneschal and Pamela ]]
* PeepingTom: Widmerpool, also Sir Magnus Donners
* RichBitch: Pamela

* SecondLove: Isabel to Nick
* SeriousBusiness: Because of Widmerpool's sense of self-importance, everything he attempts is serious business
** Also porridge for General Liddament
** Anything to do with literature for X. Trapnel
* StylisticSuck: The novels of St. John Clarke who "confines himself to the dullest of dull ideas"

* UglyGuyHotWife: Widmerpool and Pamela
* UnreliableNarrator: Nick is definitely trustworthy but he admits that there are some things about the other characters that he can't really know or understand
* UnsexySadist: Scorp Murtlock
* TheVamp: Pamela again

The sequence is narrated by Nick Jenkins in the form of his reminiscences. Over the course of the following volumes, he recalls the people he met over the previous half a century. Little is told of Jenkins' personal life beyond his encounters with the great and the bad, with events, such as his wife's miscarriage, only being related in conversation with the principal characters. [[TheEveryman Nick mainly functions as a cipher, reporting on the actions of the other characters]], specifically the inscrutable Kenneth Widmerpool who is arguably the protagonist of the series

* AnythingThatMoves: Dear god Pamela

* FullFrontalAssault: A few of the women do this to the point where it becomes kind of a motif

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Many of the characters are based on real people, who exactly is a matter of some speculation but some of the possibilities are Creator/GeorgeOrwell, Creator/HaroldPinter, and Creator/AleisterCrowley

* SeriousBusiness: Because of Widmerpool's sense of self importance everything he attempts is serious business

** Anything to do with literature for X Trapnel

* FirstPersonPeripheralNarrator: Nick serves as the narrator, however many have pointed out that Widmerpool seems to be the protaganist of the series.

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Many of the characters are based on real people, who exactly is a matter of some speculation but some of the possibilities are Creator/GeorgeOrwell, HaroldPinter, and Creator/AleisterCrowley

* ColdWar: Referenced a lot in the last movement

* WorldWarII

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Many of the characters are based on real people, who exactly is a matter of some speculation but some of the possibilities are Creator/GeorgeOrwell, HaroldPinter, and AleisterCrowley

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* LotsAndLotsOfCharacters

''A Dance to the Music of Time'' is a twelve-volume cycle of novels by Anthony Powell, inspired by the painting of the same name by Nicolas Poussin. [[{{Doorstopper}}One of the longest works of fiction in literature]], it was published between 1951 and 1975 to critical acclaim. The story is an often comic examination of movements and manners, power and passivity in English political, cultural and military life in the mid 20th century.