The 12-volume novel sequence of A Dance to the Music of Time, Anthony Powell’s principle claim to literary fame, is told from the point of view of Jenkins, a man so shadowy, so deliberately shadowy, we may assume, that only the closest reading will discern his character. This has to be a clue to the nature of Jenkins’ creator, who earned the principle part of his income for much of his life through reviewing other people’s ­writing. Here is a man who watches as he partakes, who tests and savours but never forgets his art.