I'd completely forgotten about Widmerpool & his coat, I should have another look!
Of course anything involving a heavy coat makes me think of Gogol's "Overcoat". Oddly (or maybe not?) the Nabokov line that I quote at the beginning of an old blog post about the Gogol could apply to A Dance, too.
Of course anything involving a heavy coat makes me think of Gogol's "Overcoat". Oddly (or maybe not?) the Nabokov line that I quote at the beginning of an old blog post about the Gogol could apply to A Dance, too.
Comments
I especially love what Nabokov says about Gogol pottering "on the brink of his private abyss.” It feels like Powell does that, too, with this long series of "Dance" books that initially seem almost mundane in terms of content but are incredibly risky, particularly formally.