This "Second Movement" encompasses the next three volumes:
-- At Lady Molly's (239 pages)
-- Casanova's Chinese Restaurant (229 pages)
-- The Kindly Ones (254 pages)
I'm not going to try to cover all this in detail; this summary (cursorily) covers Movements Two, Three, and Four.
Initially the scene shifts back to childhood - Albert, WWI, Nick Jenkins's father (Nick J is the narrator).
After schooling is complete - narrator often hangs with artists - Barnby, Moreland, Maclintick, etc.
He marries Isobel - discussion of Tolland family members.
WWII is impending.
Then a lengthy treatment of WWII, various jobs held by Nick, his take on various service branches. I think this was well done, interesting, a different take on Brits in WWII.
Continues to be in touch with friends who are writers.
Characters regularly recur; Widmerpool perhaps most regularly.
Easy to read; enjoyable; lots of funny moments; worth my time (of course, I have plenty of that).
Numerous references to believers ("fellow travelers" a common phrase in those days) in Marxism, Communism - one forgets that there were lots of serious believers in those days, all the way up to my time in college (and probably beyond, if only in that environment). And not just in England. Availability of better information - and a longer track record - has seemingly cut into this other than for true believers. Interesting: the final volume is dedicated to Robert Conquest.
This work just didn't seem to connect as deeply as Proust; not sure that the comparison is all that useful anyway (it just comes naturally with a work of this length following a first-person narrator across time and relationships, emphasis on the arts). Proust's observations, characters, story line had much more of a tug.
Yet: a book blogger I really respect - Anecdotal Evidence - has multiple commenters who say that Powell's work is a good re-read! I'm thinking about this.
