Details
POWELL, ANTHONY. Three typed letters signed and four autograph pictorial postcards signed to the mystery writer Dennis Wheatley and one autograph letter signed to Mrs. Wheatley, "The Chantry, Nr. Frome, Somerset" 21 October 1970-12 November 1977. Together 9 pages, oblong 12mo-4to, the letter to Mrs. Wheatley signed in full, the rest signed "Tony" or with initials.
In five of the letters and cards to Dennis Wheatley Powell discusses or touches on various volumes in his masterwork, the roman fleuve, A Dance to the Music of Time. [postmarked 21 October 1970]: "...The early reviewers have been rather disturbed -- I think they don't like the idea of people growing older..." 28 January 1972: "...My feelings are that W. [undoubtedly the major character Widmerpool] was definitely doing what he should not do, but, as you say, his former employments would almost certainly have put him in a position to get away with that on the grounds you suggest. My ideal would be something like a change of government, and decision by the new attorney-general not to prosecute, but that is not possible owing to the dating of the story. As so often, one feels that going ahead on the most likely lines will be all right for the initiated reader, but might not be clear to the uninitiated..." 22 June 1973: "Thanks indeed for your good wishes, warmly reciprocated for your own eleventh volume...I really must try and get properly started on the last one [in Powell's series] now, and envy the exactitude you describe in knowing just what your own final vol. is to be about..." Powell's letter to Mrs. Wheatley (of 12 November 1977) is a touching letter of condolence on the death of her husband. (8)
In five of the letters and cards to Dennis Wheatley Powell discusses or touches on various volumes in his masterwork, the roman fleuve, A Dance to the Music of Time. [postmarked 21 October 1970]: "...The early reviewers have been rather disturbed -- I think they don't like the idea of people growing older..." 28 January 1972: "...My feelings are that W. [undoubtedly the major character Widmerpool] was definitely doing what he should not do, but, as you say, his former employments would almost certainly have put him in a position to get away with that on the grounds you suggest. My ideal would be something like a change of government, and decision by the new attorney-general not to prosecute, but that is not possible owing to the dating of the story. As so often, one feels that going ahead on the most likely lines will be all right for the initiated reader, but might not be clear to the uninitiated..." 22 June 1973: "Thanks indeed for your good wishes, warmly reciprocated for your own eleventh volume...I really must try and get properly started on the last one [in Powell's series] now, and envy the exactitude you describe in knowing just what your own final vol. is to be about..." Powell's letter to Mrs. Wheatley (of 12 November 1977) is a touching letter of condolence on the death of her husband. (8)