Philosopy is for wimps

I made it! I've caught up! The one good thing about a 4 hour train journey to Wales to watch us lose the rugby (Stephen Jones, in the astronomically unlikely event that you're reading this, I want you to know that I haven't forgiven you yet) is that it gives one plenty of time for Powell-perusal.

So, yet again, I find myself trying to blog without really being able to remember what happened in this volume and what happened elsewhere. Maybe it's best if I concentrate on the bits I absolutely know for sure happened in this one - and in particular, the Widmerpool/Pamela Flitton scrap near the end. I didn't really know what to do with this. It is beyond doubt that Widmerpool is Not A Nice Man. But he didn't send Charles Stringham to his death. He put him in a unit he knew might be going to the Far East; Stringham was given the opportunity to get out, and he didn't take it because he wanted to go. Good for Stringham. It wasn't as though England had much to offer him. And then there's Templer. The way I read Pamela's rant, when combined with Widmerpool's responses, was that Templer was sent out to court a particular set of interests; British interests then turned another way and operations didn't bother to get Templer out. Widmerpool probably could have done more, but that doesn't make him a murderer. And then I got really confused because I couldn't work out whether we were meant to think that Pamela's outburst was over-the-top and wrong, or over-the-top but right. She's been portrayed throughout this volume as an unreliable narrator, but Widmerpool is meant to be a monster, right? So are we meant to believe her, or him? Is Powell being clever, using an unreliable narrator to attack Widmerpool and thus leaving us to draw our own conclusions? Or is he just using Pamela to make his own points about Widmerpool? - which doesn't work, because we can't believe her to be an authentic voice. Aaaargh!

I've got so irritated writing this that I really can't remember who did what with whom in this one. I quite enjoyed seeing Mrs Erdleigh again. Always nice to have Ted Jeavons knocking around. The military attaches were quite fun. Didn't see the point in the return of Kedward. Etc, etc.

However, I do think that this volume provides further support for my theory about Powell's attitude towards women (see last post) - he compares Pamela Flitton to Audrey Maclintick twice in The Military Philosophers. Will thinks I should add another category - completely subservient women who say nothing controversial and look decorative, and are therefore Suitable For Marriage (i.e. Isobel). I am not sure that this is warranted, as I still don't accept Isobel is a real character (as opposed to, say, some insipid wallpaper that hoves into view from time to time).