Temporary Kings
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Chipped and worn with some minor damage
Pages: Good
Markings: No markings
The tenth volume in Anthony Powell's monumental twelve-novel sequence A Dance to the Music of Time, Temporary Kings is a work of literary fiction that chronicles the gradual unraveling of the post-war English upper class through the wry, observant eyes of narrator Nick Jenkins. Set partly in Venice during an international writers' conference, the novel presents a world of aging ambitions, shifting power, and quiet moral decay, as familiar characters from across the sequence reconvene in new and often compromising configurations. Powell's tone is characteristically ironic and measured, illustrating the passage of time not through dramatic upheaval but through the subtle erosions of reputation, loyalty, and desire. Rich with literary and artistic allusion, the narrative uncovers the fragile nature of influence and status — the temporary crowns worn by those who mistake social prominence for lasting significance. A masterwork of sustained irony and psychological precision, it rewards readers who have followed the sequence while standing as a testament to Powell's unrivaled command of English social comedy.
Author: Anthony Powell
Format: Hardback
Published: 1975, Little, Brown and Company
Genre: Modern fiction
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Chipped and worn with some minor damage
Pages: Good
Markings: No markings
The tenth volume in Anthony Powell's monumental twelve-novel sequence A Dance to the Music of Time, Temporary Kings is a work of literary fiction that chronicles the gradual unraveling of the post-war English upper class through the wry, observant eyes of narrator Nick Jenkins. Set partly in Venice during an international writers' conference, the novel presents a world of aging ambitions, shifting power, and quiet moral decay, as familiar characters from across the sequence reconvene in new and often compromising configurations. Powell's tone is characteristically ironic and measured, illustrating the passage of time not through dramatic upheaval but through the subtle erosions of reputation, loyalty, and desire. Rich with literary and artistic allusion, the narrative uncovers the fragile nature of influence and status — the temporary crowns worn by those who mistake social prominence for lasting significance. A masterwork of sustained irony and psychological precision, it rewards readers who have followed the sequence while standing as a testament to Powell's unrivaled command of English social comedy.