V.S. Naipaul opens mouth, changes feet: A round-up of literary kerfuffles,...
Friends again. (Photo: Daniel Mordzinski) V.S. Naipaul has offered definitive proof against the adage that to be a good writer, you must be a good reader. First, the happy news: Naipaul has ended his...
View ArticleWriting is a life of poverty? Not.
Waugh's digs at Piers Court, near Stinchcombe For those of you entering this or that writing competition or perhaps applying for a grant, hoping to scrape together a few shekels so you can buy kitty...
View ArticleWhen literary tête-à-têtes ends in fisticuffs…
The subject of the fistfight: Lewis and Tolkien It’s not often that two guys having a literary discussion end up by hauling off and whacking each other. And yet it happened in the city of my alma...
View ArticleMichael Krasny, a survivor – just like me!
A few weeks ago, I finally met Michael Krasny, the genial presence behind KQED’s Forum – though we’d been Facebook friends for some time. He was a kindly and affable man – surprisingly humble and...
View ArticleGore Vidal remembering Italo Calvino: “He was the only great writer of my time.”
Gore Vidal's magnificent Mediterranean digs – Calvino was a neighbor. A few days ago I wrote about Italo Calvino. I’ve so far neglected the death of Gore Vidal – so many have written so much already I...
View ArticleGore Vidal’s “piety”
"a one-man great society" That’s it. I’m in love with Gore. No, no, not that Gore. Gore Vidal. I know, it’s sudden… I was watching the interview I posted a few days ago. It uncovered a Vidal I...
View ArticleBreaking bad news to Gore Vidal
In 2009 (Photo: David Shankbone) Facebook posts rarely live longer than a butterfly or moth, but fortunately this one did – it landed on the cyberspace pages of Truthdig. Steve Wasserman, one of my...
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