Temporary Kings

First edition cover
AuthorAnthony Powell
Cover artistJames Broom-Lynne
LanguageEnglish
SeriesA Dance to the Music of Time
PublisherHeinemann
Publication date
1973
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Preceded byBooks Do Furnish a Room 
Followed byHearing Secret Harmonies 

Temporary Kings is a novel by Anthony Powell, the penultimate in his twelve-volume novel, A Dance to the Music of Time. It was published in 1973 by Heinemann and remains in print as does the rest of the sequence. It takes place at a fictional 1958 symposium in Venice.

Temporary Kings has been characterized as a novel in the post-war consensus of literary compromise.[1] It also demonstrates Powell's evocation of art at all levels, most notably an (imaginary) Venetian ceiling painting by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo[2]

Temporary Kings received the W. H. Smith Prize in 1974.[3]

It is dedicated to Roland Gant, Powell's editor, who Powell called "one in a million."[4][5]

  1. ^ MacKay, Marina. “‘Temporary Kings’: The Metropolitan Novel Series and the Postwar Consensus.” Modern Fiction Studies 67, no. 2 (2021): 320–41.
  2. ^ June Sturrock (2010) The Arts in Anthony Powell's Temporary Kings: A Note and Some Comments, ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes, and Reviews, 23:1, 56-60
  3. ^ Literary Thing: "Book awards: WH Smith Literary Award", accessed May 19, 2020
  4. ^ Spurling, Hilary.(2017). Anthony Powell: Dancing to the Music of Time. Hamish Hamilton, pp. 311-312.
  5. ^ Jay, Mike. (2013) "Who Were the Dedicatees of Powell’s Works?" The Anthony Powell Society Newsletter.50 (spring): 9-10.