Casanova's Chinese Restaurant - Anthony Powell

We join the Dance halfway through the fifth novel of a twelve book sequence. Our narrator has provided a lengthy description of a dinner with a couple who may or may not be emotionally intimate:

When the waiter returned with some money on a plate, she apportioned the silver equitably between Moreland and myself, leaving the correct tip; a series of operations that would have presented immense problems of manipulation to Moreland. All this enterprise made her appear to possess ideal, even miraculous, qualifications for becoming his wife. They were, indeed, married some months later. The ceremony took place in a registry office, almost secretly, because Moreland hated fuss. Not long after, perhaps a year, almost equally unexpectedly, I found myself married too; married to Isobel Tolland. Life – the sort of life Moreland and I used to live in those days – all became rather changed.

So the narrator’s wedding is mentioned only in passing, an afterthought of an afterthought, and barely mentioned again. This is typical of Powell, as is the alternation between long, contemplative sentences with lots of subclauses and short, factual sentences.

The importance of elision and rhythm are shared between this sequence and music, explaining in part the title A Dance To The Music of Time. The Dance also refers to the complex interplay of characters over time. In this instalment, the exchange of partners intensifies and the musical motif finally enters the main narrative.

As is becoming increasingly clear, it's all rather brilliant.