Dance Class offers an extraordinary collection of student essays about Anthony Powell's great comic novel A Dance to the Music of Time . The young authors not only discuss issues of character, plot, and theme, but they also investigate historical background, chart personal relevance, parody characters and situations, even - in one student's case - write a treatment for a drama.

In examining Mrs. Erdleigh's fortune-telling mumbo-jumbo, Cassidy Carpenter presents compelling - and original - evidence that the narrator's birthday is the same as Powell's. Will Story provides an invaluable guide to all the military acronyms that percolate through the war novels. Alex Svec creates a brilliant parody of writings by Julian Maclaren-Ross, the real-life model for X. Trapnel.

For those who love A Dance to the Music of Time , this book will reveal fresh new ways of looking at the series. And for those who are just discovering it, Dance Class will prove a useful and highly entertaining guide.