University of Chicago Press to Release Anthony Powell Digital Series

By Maryann Yin 

The University of Chicago Press has created eBook editions of Anthony Powell’s 12-volume epic novel, A Dance to the Music of Time. To get readers started, they are offering the first volume for free.

Publicity manager Levi Stahl explained in an email: “The daunting length of the series has always been an obstacle to getting new readers to pick it up–so we’re hoping we can get people to grab the first one [A Question of Understanding] for free and then we’ll have them hooked on Powell’s fascinating characters. Starting on December 1, people will be able to go to pretty much any place that sells e-books, including Amazon, or to our site to get their free copy of the first book. The rest of the volumes will be $8.00 apiece.”

The 1,000,000-word epic novel was originally published between 1951 and 1975. Powell was inspired by a Nicolas Poussin painting by the same name.