Turn, Magic Wheel

by Dawn Powell

Dennis Orphen steals the life story of his friend Effie Callingham for his novel in a satire of the New York literary scene

Genres: Fiction, Classics, Literary Fiction, New York, Novels, Female Authors, Humor

228 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1936

About the author

Dawn Powell was an American writer of satirical novels and stories that manage to be barbed and sensitive at the same time.

Reviews

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my first experience of Dawn Powell's writing. Indeed, I'd not heard of her until I read Everybody Was So Young: Gerald and Sara Murphy: A Lost Generation Love Story. A prolific novelist, short story writer and playwright, almost all of her works were out of print when she died in 1965. If this novel is anything to do by, she deserves to be better known.

Turn, Magic Wheel, which was published in 1936, is Powell's seventh novel. It centres on Dennis Orphen, a young novelist whose latest work is based on the life of his older female friend Effie Callingham, the spurned first wife of a famous novelist clearly inspired by Ernest Hemingway. Metafiction is thus combined with a satire of the publishing industry in 1930s New York that is sharp, funny and occasionally poignant.

While there's much to admire in Powell's writing, there's an uneveness to the tone of the novel that's rather jarring, with laugh-out-loud funny moments juxtaposed with sad scenes in a way that doesn't quite work. The uneveness has kept the rating down to 3.5 stars. That said, I'd still like to read more of Powell's work and to know more about her. It's great to come across a "new" author from the 1930s.

[robin friedman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Tart New York Love Story

In this novel, written in 1936, Dawn Powell began a series of books satirizing literary life in New York City. Powells' biographer, Tim Page, has written of this book that "if there is another novel that manages simultaneously to be so funny and so sad, so riotous and so realistic, so acute and yet so accepting in the portrayal of flawed humankind, I have not yet found it." This is high praise for an obscure novel, but it is deserved.

The protagonist of the book is Dennis Orphen, a young man who, modeled on Dawn Powell herself, has left Midwest Ohio to come to New York City in search of a literary career and of excitement.
Orphen begins as a "proletarian" leftist type of writer but soon achieves some popular acclaim. He then publishes a novel, "The Hunter's Wife" which satirizes sharply a famous American writer who has long lived abroad, Andrew Callingham (a Hemingway-like figure.) Orphen has learned about the details of Calligham's life through his three-year affair with Effie, Callingham's first wife whom Callingham had left 18 years earlier. (Effie is much older than Orphen.) Effie is despondent over the revelations in Orphen's book. Orphen also has affairs with other women, particularly a young married woman named Corrine, who loves Orphen but also loves her good if boring home with her husband.

The book is full of pictures of New York City streets, bars, homes and characters. It satirizes the literary establishment and literary tastes of the day unmercifully. The plot in the story turns on Orphen's attempt to reconcile what he has done as a writer -- written a fine novel -- with the betrayal of Effie. He needs to sort out his feeling for her and for Corrine.

Effie too needs to sort out her feelings towards Orphen and towards Callingham, her long-gone husband. She has the opportunity to do so when Callingham returns briefly to New York City. The title of the book, "Turn, Magic Wheel", is taken from an epigraph of Theocritus: "Turn, magic wheel, Bring homeward him I love" and is suggestive of the plot.

Some readers see this book is sharp, unremitting satire. I find it much more. It tells an unconventional love story lived by people with unconventional sexual mores. Dawn Powell brings real sympathy and understanding to the characters and their situation. The book is a beautiful portrait of New York City of the mid-1930's. It captures the allure of leaving one's youth in the
Midwest and seeking life in the excitement of Manhattan. Powell has fallen back into obscurity following brief acclaim for her work in the early 2000s, but she deserves to be read.

Robin Friedman

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Those already familiar with the work of Dawn Powell may take to this novel more readily than those meeting her here for the first time. It does have her trademark wit, luscious prose and sharp analysis - but it's also less comprehensive in its social view. ~ which is to say its plot is thinner (if still substantial, for what it is).

It's the story of Dennis Orphen, an up-and-coming novelist whose about-to-be-published work ('The Hunter's Wife') causes a mild degree of havoc for the woman who inspired it: Effie Callingham, wife of Andrew Callingham (a stand-in for Ernest Hemingway). Concurrently, Effie is dealing with an even more pressing problem: Marian (the present day-Mrs. Callingham, the one Andrew threw Effie over for, the one now also in shadow, since Andrew has a 'latest love') is dying. Identifying with Marian on the separation level, Effie takes it upon herself to force Andrew into the type of closure he fiercely avoids.

The book is also largely about Dennis - as it explores his genuine, deep interest in Effie as a person (rather than a love interest) while revealing his inability in choosing a meaningful relationship with someone he sincerely cares about.

The book is only minimally about the Hemingway character. (There is, by the way, a peripheral explanation re: how to get around libel when writing about a clearly identifiable famous personality - as well as an indirect mention of Hemingway by name; so Powell dodged a bullet.) I was just as glad since Hemingway never impressed me and, when his sub does briefly appear, he says dumb things like:

"I'm the best writer on female psychology in the world today..."

It becomes apparent that 'T,MW', in part, is about the foolishness of being unrealistic and making a la-la-land out of love.

It's also largely about Powell's loathing of the more-awful city-types in general. There are plenty of those here for Powell to justifiably skewer. The author will certainly sympathize with garden-variety disillusionment and uninformed choices - but she cuts quick when jerks are jerks.

'T,MW' was a modest success when published (1936). It was eclipsed 6 years later when Powell published her most popular book, 'A Time to Be Born'. I recently read the latter work (also thought about it while reading 'T,MW') and found myself so 'finger-tied' after finishing it that I was unable to be all that effusive in my review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

In retrospect, I should have downright gushed and gone into more detail. As I said, 'T,MW' is perfectly fine for established Powell fans, but 'ATTBB' is a downright classic that shouldn't be overlooked by fans of great American fiction.

[Whitney Borup · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book because Rory Gilmore recommended it.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dawn Powell said of this book that it is her "best, simplest, and most original." I can see why she admires it so much.

It's not that there are plenty of passages that are either stirring in their compassion, savage in their satire, masterful in their prose, or stunning in their insight; rather, it's that whole pages go by that have this spell. Even whole chapters cast this spell. As a novel that exhibits Dawn Powell's mastery of her own talents, it's a breathtaking marvel. I haven't seen a story about this kind of relationship before, and it's so exquisitely told, nor a character as distinct and thrilling to live in as Effie Cullingham.

I can't say enough nice things about this small little treasure. I certainly trust Dawn Powell's writing, and it looks like I can certainly trust her own discernment about her own work. Turn, Magic Wheel is flooring.

[Darcy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an excellent book... beautifully flawed characters longing for connection and being continually heartbroken yet still seeking fulfillment. Sounds a little bleak though the humanity in this story was ever present and captivating.
And the setting of New York City in the 1930s felt like another person in the book... Old New York City, glamorous and enrapturing and harrowing for the faint of heart.
Dawn Powell is a beautiful writer and one I will continue to re-visit.

[AC · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 rounded up or down – it makes no difference. What a wonderful voice, such savage wit, so modern (yet 1936) — a touch of Mansfield, of Manhattan Transfer, KAP? (I haven’t read)…, funny, sardonic, rapier dissections, and pathos — wonderful author!

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're up for savage satire of the whole New York social scene, Dawn Powell is the writer for you. In fact, she is so thoroughgoing a satirist that a recent (2015) auction selling her diaries had no takers. And this is a writer of excellent wit, a Manhattan Yorick as it were. Her Turn, Magic Wheel is about a biographer writing about the first wife of a literary figure who resembles Ernest Hemingway -- except that she means far more to him than as merely a subject. That doesn't keep him from carrying on with the wife of a friend.

Powell's fiction makes for enjoyable reading with a bite, yet there is something more than just surface satire there.

[Molly (MoMo) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I dont know man. I think I'm missing something cause I just didn't get this book. Not the greatest beach read. Very much giving Catcher in the Rye vibes which I also didn't like (sorry not sorry to the literary canon). I understand that the characters were intentionally flawed but give me some redeeming qualities or else I will loose interest. I disliked almost all the characters except that doctor who appeared on two pages. Also I do not understand how the title relates to the book at all. Cool cover though.

[Allison · Rating 3 out of 5]

The jacket of this book calls it a "hilarious satire of the New York literary scene." I actually found much of the story heart-breaking---Effie's storyline, in particuler, made me cry. But, that said, it is well-written, and often witty---a party scene near the end is especially entertaining. And the characters develop very nicely---I was not so sure that I gave a hoot about Dennis at the beginning, but he grew into a real and interesting person before the novel was over. There is a really nice scene in which he and another character spend a night bar-hopping in New York, heading home at dawn. Just the way it feels, that time of night, the smokey, deserted bars at 4am...it is all described so vividly that it is familair, like you remember that night yourself. Not so sure that I like the way it ended---it came down to the last few sentances---but really, it makes Dennis seem even more like a real person and not just a character in a novel.

[Emily Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Dawn Powell. Love her. Love her. I don't know if it's because I read A Time to Be Born first or what, but I keep wanting every subsequent book of hers to be as explosively wonderful as that one. This one was the closest so far. It's particularly sharp if you have any relationships with writers or are a writer yourself. It's whip-smart and seemingly satirical of all the big boy writers of her era. Every time I read her I am flabbergasted again at her disappearance from historical memory as a great. I read this one on a cross country flight in one sitting, so it went fast! It's ending was slightly dissatisfying somehow but also strangely uplifting. I'm a little on the fence about it. But I'd read it again to find out why that is.
Read this if anyone has ever written a book about you or if you've ever used anyone for your "material."

[Spiros · Rating 4 out of 5]

The last time I encountered Dennis Orphen, the protagonist of this novel, was (somewhat anachronistically) in a novel, The Wicked Pavillion, which takes place some fifteen years after this novel is set: in that story, he functions as a framing element, very much as a Wes Anderson character would. He functions essentially as part of the scenery of Cafe Julien, which is the strongest character of that work.
Here, Dennis is much more of a pronounced character: a formerly Proletarian writer, who has found himself coopted into writing about a much more elevated and literary world. His latest effort has come at the expense of his friend Effie, the former wife of a celebrated author: he is very conscious of his betrayal of their relationship, and yet...perhaps there is a reason for the exposure which his subconscious has motivated his actions.
A fun read, with some absolutely scintillating prose, set amongst a rather scaly cast of characters.

[Melting Uncle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is supposedly a satire on the New York literary scene of the 1930’s. As another reviewer noted it’s mostly sad. Unrequited love with several pairs of New Yorkers going hot and cold for each other.

The scenes involving Marian and Effie worked well with a lot of emotion and beautiful descriptive wispy prose whenever the narrative moved into Effie’s perspective. The scenes with Dennis Orphen and his circle (Corinne, Okie Dokie, McTwead) felt creaky and dusty in a way that happens when comedy doesn’t age well. You’re aware that a joke is being made and yet you feel nothing, no smile, no laugh. Turn Magic Wheel flavor of humor is not exactly Marx Brothers, more like comedy-of-manners you would see in a movie from that era. Which I can bear for an hour and a half but 175 pages is a bit much… maybe I just don’t get it?

In summary: the sad stuff was good, funny stuff not so funny.

[Trin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was excited to find this in a used bookstore because I know of Powell as from that circle of New Yorker writers and as a Maxwell Perkins author, and this is supposed to be a satire of the 1930s New York literary scene. Unfortunately, I bounced pretty hard off the voice, which feels experimental but not innovative, lots of stream of consciousness from lots of characters' POVs, few of which come alive. One aspect I did like were the chapters following the two ex-wives of a Hemingway-like character, one of whom is dying and who only has the other -- the wife she supplanted -- to visit in the hospital while she waits desperately for not-Hemingway (who's off fucking a dancer) to come. There are some beautiful descriptions of the first wife's mental state and observations in these scenes, but they don't sustain a whole book, and the literary satire itself felt limp as old salad. Alas!

[sara (lunediomartedi) · Rating 4 out of 5]

una satira acuta e crudele del mondo delle relazioni e della "buona società" americana degli anni Trenta.

(questo libro ha confermato una mia teoria: se la quarta di copertina riporta il commento di un uomo che definisce il libro come "divertente", allora è quasi sicuro che il libro sarà triste e cinico.)

[Morgan Monaghan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another win from Dawn Powell. Such complex and interesting characters, I wasn't even sure about their inner dialogue, even while immersed in their own narration. Kept you on your toes until the ending. The intricate story line really made for a close read.

[Reuben]

DNF at 150

Found the characters and their stations in life to be insufferably boring. Powell of course will shed brilliant light on them and theirs by the end, but I can't stick it through unfortunately. I am just annoyed every time I pick it up.

[laney jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 stars. this is some of the most beautiful prose i have ever read in my life.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first review. This was a funny, absorbing and romantic story written by a working writer of her time. New York City was perfectly played by Dawn Powell’s words and the bond between Dennis and Effie was not unlike relationships between New York City and its full-time residents.

[Stephen DiBartola · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am always curious about good authors whose books I’ve missed over the years. In a Wall Street Journal article (“A Celebrated Unknown”) about composer Harold Shapero (January 15, 2015), Terry Teachout mentioned Dawn Powell as someone who “wrote some of the wittiest comic novels of the 20th century but has yet to become truly popular.” When Powell died in 1965, her novels were out of print and remained so until the 1990’s. I browsed some of her books on Amazon and decided to read “Turn, Magic Wheel” (1936), a biting satire of the rarified world of authors, publishers, businessmen and socialites in Manhattan during the 1930’s. In the first chapter, we are introduced to Dennis Orphen, a writer who has just completed a novel using his good friend Effie’s egotistical ex-husband and author Andy Callingham as undisguised fodder for his book. Andy has left Effie and another woman named Marian before Powell’s novel even gets started. In fact, we don’t actually meet Andy until the end of the book. Effie spends much of the novel denying her life alone and waiting for Andy to return to her (hence the title from Theocritus: “Turn, magic wheel, bring homeward him I love”). Effie is a good friend and confidante to Orphen, who meanwhile carries on an affair with Corrine, the wife of a successful businessman. In fact, it seems like a lot of the characters in this book are carrying on affairs with the spouses of their friends and business associates. Effie is the only character in the book to experience any emotional growth. She finally gives up her romantic memory of Andy when he shows up at Marian’s death bed and Effie realizes he is a stranger to her both physically and emotionally. Powell has a ruthless, sarcastic sense of humor. The book is full of wit, but it’s hard to take any of the characters too seriously except perhaps Effie (at least by the end of the book). For example, Orphen is very curious about the lives of others, but he has little insight into his own behavior and is blind to the flesh-and-blood woman (Effie) standing right in front of him. Only when Effie goes missing because she is spending all her time at the hospital with the dying Marian does Orphen come to realize what Effie means to him. His insight however is transient and, as the novel ends, Dennis is taking up once again with Corrine who has turned up on his doorstep. This novel is not big on plot, and the characters are hard to like, but it’s an entertaining send-up of these Manhattan high rollers of the 1930’s and their cynical superficial lives.

[Kim Fay · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've wanted to read Dawn Powell for years - one of those authors I was saving for a rainy day. When I joined a classics book club (I use that term loosely, since we've only met once in the past 6 months!), we chose Turn, Magic Wheel for our second book. Hemingway considered Dawn Powell the best writer of their generation (or so I've read), and she is pretty great. This novel will especially appeal to writers and those in the publishing industry. It's about a novelist, Dennis Orphen, who writes a book loosely based on the life of a woman named Effie Callingham --- interestingly enough, the character of her husband is based on Hemingway. There is a chapter from the publisher's point of view that feels as if it could have been written today, especially the bit about blurbs! Powell is a sly social satirist; it's this talent that makes her so enjoyable to read.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as wonderful as A Time To Be Born, but funny and affecting as I expect Powell to be, with great descriptions like this one:

'Gieseking, the pianist, looked too big to be bullying such delicate melodies, he thought, though he tried to be very gentle with them. He crouched over the piano with his big hands cupping the keys as if a mouse might peep out of fist once he relaxed. Softly his fingers in ten little bedroom slippers tiptoed up and down Schumann, music became so diminished under his microscope, made so tiny and perfect that it could be neatly placed in a baby's ear.'

[Iris Blasi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dawn Powell's own personal favorite of her New York novels, I loved this scathing send-up of the literary establishment. In the book, Dennis Orphen has written a novel loosely based on his friend Effie Callingham's life as a former wife of a Hemingway-esque character. At turns heartbreaking and hilarious, the book is a crystalline portrayal of the New York of yesteryear, with observations about artistic aspiration and the literary life that are startlingly contemporary.

[Nathan Oates · Rating 4 out of 5]

An engaging, if almost overwhelmingly bleak, satire about New York literary life. As with many books driven by the interior conflicts of its characters, the novel is best early on and tends to loose energy as it struggles to assemble its wide cast into a compelling plot. But the writing, at times, is hilarious and delightful.

[Dan Leo · Rating 5 out of 5]

After torturing myself by reading Otessa Moshfegh's "Eileen" I had to read something that was the opposite of torture. Thank you, Dawn Powell!

[Justina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a weird book and I kinda love it.

[Eleanor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since I've read two of Dawn Powell's novels this month --A Time To Be Born and Turn, Magic Wheel-- I can't help but compare them.

A Time To Be Born is definitely the more political novel. Written as a satire of New York society immediately preceding US entry in WWII, Powell's novel follows the beautiful, ambitious Amanda Keeler Evans (modelled after Clare Booth Luce), as she claws her way up the social scales. When she's not too busy plagiarizing novels and spewing froth in newspaper columns, Amanda orchestrates complicated ruses by manipulating her childhood friend, Vicky Haven, in order to rekindle a dormant affair with Ken Saunders, alcoholic journalist. Predictably, a love triangle ensues.

In Turn, Magic Wheel, Dennis Orphen writes an expository novel about a friend, Mrs. Effie Callingham. The ex-wife of a fictional version of Ernest Hemingway, Effie is shaken by Dennis's betrayal and is forced to reflect on the fiction of her marriage. Every character is involved with at least two lovers so an intricate web of deception, jealousy, and longing dominates Powell's novel.

In A Time To Be Born, the setting is urgent --national uncertainty pervades the fatuous lives of Powell's love-struck, power-hungry cast. Despite the war demanding weighty moral stances, the characters in ATTBB feel like paper dolls. Flat and flimsy, their development relies on the introduction of increasingly one-dimensional characters and melodramatic plot points. While I appreciated Amanda's flickering humanity throughout her abortion, I felt that the novel's ending reverted all characters to droll flatness.

In contrast to ATTBB, the depth of Effie's personal tragedy elevates TMW from a really scornful satire to a really, really good book. Effie's struggle to define her nebulous selfhood feels both timeless and specific. I liked the meta-fiction too --a writer writing about a writer writing about a writer (whew!) isn't new, but Powell's prose is original and clever.

And while Powell eviscerates men and women alike, some of the funniest bits were instances of inch-perfect patriarchy-bashing: In TMW, Andrew Callingham (Ernest Hemingway) avows: "I understand women!" And ATTBB features an unforgettable, monologuing uncle, who is fanatical about the atom and convinced that silent women are the only ones with any real sense.

Personally, I preferred Turn, Magic Wheel, but I would recommend both novels to any fan of Dorothy Parker, Evelyn Waugh, and overlooked women authors.

[Randy Russell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m guessing this story takes place in the Thirties (it was published in 1936) and it’s set in New York, amidst a literary scene that I can’t help feeling somewhat nostalgic about, even though it’s 100% satirical, and at some points fairly cruel. I imagine it came off a bit nastier at the time—when the subjects of ridicule might have more recognized themselves. And time might have softened it a bit, so a present-day reader might easily feel nostalgia—maybe because it’s New York—which takes on a timeless quality—always immensely different, of course, but always remarkably the same. I mean, the Thirties is now nearly a century ago, yet it also feels remarkably current, or I suppose timeless—in that people will always be fools and always be struggling. The main character is a novelist named Dennis Orphen who has written a book which, in part, apparently makes fun of a hugely popular writer, Andrew Callingham, who has been off in Europe for years. Dennis has had some kind of relationship with the Callingham’s ex, Effie, in order to get material, but of course, over time, he’s become immensely fond of her. He’s also having an affair with a married woman named Corinne, whose husband is hilariously dull. The woman who Callingham left Effie for has returned to New York, suffering from a terminal illness, and Effie becomes oddly protective of her. So much of the book is like an immense soap opera, but it’s so twisted, and the characters oddly likeable despite their actions—I found it thoroughly satisfying, and a lot of fun. I especially liked the subplot involving Dennis’ publishers, MacTweed and Johnson—for me, the funniest part of the book.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting to read a book portraying that people are still the same now as they were in 1936! The casual infidelity was a little distressing to me, as well as the overall selfishness of the secondary characters. This book is described as a "hilarious satire of the New York literary scene." I didn't find this hilarious or funny. And the old fashioned writing style sometimes hard to understand; as well as references to people well known then but unfamiliar now. Reading this I kept thinking of Francis Perkins from Roosevelt's administration. Despite being responsible for establishing the social security among others benefit programs, she is not given credit or recognition for her contributions no doubt due to being a woman. Will try another book by this author and am really wanting to read her diaries. Feeling sad that I had not heard of her before picking this book up in Dollar Tree of all places last year!

[Vultural · Rating 5 out of 5]

Powell, Dawn - Turn, Magic Wheel

What a delicious short novel!
Set half in literary New York, half in the social register, this tracks a hungry writer as he tries to shepherd his latest book to publication.
The novel is a barely veiled biography of the great writer of the time, and the ex-wife he abandoned.
The young turk has been befriending and probing the fragile wife for - what? - a few years. Time as needed to unearth as much material to create a juicy read.
Powell’s word use is inspired, dazzling at times, and the pages brim with energy.
Characters are anxious, envious, insecure, arrogant, two-faced - most are all at once.
For today’s tribe who bemoan the age of conversation, here it is! And the players despise it.
Small chatter to mask ignorance, boasting of meaningless accomplishments, shading emotions with irony, and the façade of myth-making.
For a book published in 1936, this seems terribly modern and I feel fortunate to have stumbled onto this author.