Dance Night

I previously read Dawn Powell's The Golden Spur, which was a combination of Dorothy Parker's wit and Iris Murdoch's use of a multitude of characters, and liked it enough to purchase and read Dance Night. Of the two, Dance Night is, by far, the better. Powell has created two characters - Morry and Jen - whom you come to care about, while also accurately depicting small town life in the early 1900s and how it is to be young. Her female characters such as Morry's mother, Elsinore, and, particularly, Jen, are complex and well rounded, which is refreshing, given that the novel was written in 1930. Though it is not as humorous as The Golden Spur, Powell still utilizes her wit with occasional one-liners that are capable of making you laugh out loud. Definitely worth reading, and further proof that more of her novels should be reprinted.

Dawn Powell (1897-1965) received little attention in her lifetime, but her novels are now in print and accessible due to the critical efforts of Gore Vidal and Tim Page, among others. She is an "autobigraphical" writer, and her novels fall into two groups: 1. the earlier "Ohio" novels which are based on Powell's childhood and adolescence in small-town Ohio in the early 20th Century and 2. the later "New York novels which are heavily satirical and describe Greenwich Village where Powell spent most of her adult life.Powell wrote "Dance Night" in 1930, and it is an early novel in the "Ohio" group. It describes the fictitous small-town of Lamptown, Ohio in the early 20th century. There are gritty pictures of the local bars and saloons and of the railroad men who frequented them. There a pictures of the factories which were the chief employers of both men and the young women. The book focuses on the life of the working class in Lamptown, with their cramped, limited ambitions and opportunities, their rickety homes, and their sexual repressions and liasions. (Books such as this remind me of George Gissing, a Victorian novelist who remains too little known, and who depicted somewhat similar scenes and people in London.)The two primary characters in the novel are Morry Abott a young man on the verge of adulthood and Jen St. Clair, a young girl just beginning adolescence who has been adopted from an orphanage. The book is how they come of age, sexually and emotionally, and how they attempt in their own ways (including their frustrated relationship with each other) to leave Lamptown. Morry, in particular, seems based upon Powell herself (she generally uses male protagonists in her books that I have read) and the frustrations she experienced in the rural midwest and her dream of a life of glamor, freedom, and adventure (sexual and otherwise) in New York. In the novel, Morry lives with his mother who runs a small woman's hat shop, the Bon Ton. The father is a travelling salesman and mostly absent. When he is present, things are very ugly.The title "Dance Night" derives from the chief social activity in Lamptown, the Thursday evening dances. Morry, his mother, and the young factory girls of Lamptown frequent the dances to flirt, dance, and arrange dates and sexual encounters.There is a great deal of emphasis in the book on furtive, repressed sexual encounters between the young men and women of Lamptown. There is always a hope of escape -- then and now -- based primarily on the dream of sexual liberation. The book is also a story of economic change and ambition at the time of the beginning of the Depressions. The book shows the passing of chance and the attempt to make a quick dollar without thought or training.The story is really within the American tradition of the coming of age novel -- of the young man finding himself. The book gives a memorable picture of Lamptown. But it leaves its main character Morry as he departs Lamptown in search of b

This novel of early 20th century Ohio deserves a place with the novels of Willa Cather and Theodore Dreiser. Unlike Dawn Powell's satirical New York novels, this is a straightforward and touching story of a young man growing up and growing out of a stifling small town. The story paints a wonderful picture of a simpler time in our country. This portrait, along with Powell's knack for characterization and interesting plot turns, make the book a treasure.

Dawn Powell is without a doubt one of the most remarkable writers of this century. Anyone who wants to know how this country truly looked, sounded, and felt in the 30's, 40's & 50's owes it to themselves to stock up on her books. Her New York novels, like "The Locusts Have No King", can be almost savage in their bitingly hilarious portayals of life in mid-century Manhattan and Greenwich Village. "Dance Night" is something else, entirely. Powell brings the grubby town of Lamptown, Ohio to aching life; you won't soon forget her finely-etched characters and their desperate efforts to create some happiness among the cargo trains and factory whistles and backsteet affairs that define the limits of their lives at the dawn of the Great Depression. I can't recommend this book highly enough. Powell fans may want to order a copy of "The Best of Dawn Powell", as it contains "Dance Night", "Turn Magic Wheel", and a collection of short stories.

The four stars are simply because, as a huge Dawn Powell fan, I feel that some of her other novels are a little more well rounded. Having said that, I feel that four stars for Dawn Powell is the equivilent of five stars for anyone else. Dance Night is an engaging and easy to read novel, with Powell's usual flair for nailing character types. I highly recommend this novel, but more importantly, I recommend all of Dawn Powell's works You never develop too much compassion for the main characters, but the wit and insight with which they are drawn is really what makes them so enjoyable. Do yourself a favor and start reading Dawn Powell today.