John McEwen
Portraits of Society
Derek Hill
By Bruce Arnold
Quartet 448pp £35
This is a labour of love and quite a labour to read. Bruce Arnold’s job is not easy. The book is dedicated to the artist’s ‘family and friends who “saw him through”’. As a friend answering the need of friends, Arnold must defend, celebrate and, if possible, not offend, in what is essentially a private offering. I find myself in much the same delicate position. Patrick Trevor-Roper said that Derek referred to almost everyone he knew as one of his ‘best and oldest friends’. That is why he will be called ‘Derek’ here.
Robert McKinstry wrote of Derek in his sixties that ‘he still has the vulnerability of a child and still retains the enthusiasm of a twenty-one-year-old’. The vulnerability explains a lot, the enthusiasm excuses much. Naim Attallah, the book’s publisher, knew Derek well, having suffered the ‘nightmare’ of producing
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
When @djbduncan notices the text for a literary jigsaw puzzle had been written by a former colleague, his head spins. A wild surmise. Are jigsaws REF-able?
Dennis Duncan - The W Factor
Dennis Duncan: The W Factor
literaryreview.co.uk
In an effort to scold drinkers, Victorian temperance societies furiously marked every drinking establishment with a red X on city maps. It was a spectacular case of propaganda backfiring.
@foxtosser explores the history of drink maps
Edward Brooke-Hitching - From Beer Street to Gin Lane
Edward Brooke-Hitching: From Beer Street to Gin Lane - Drink Maps in Victorian Britain by Kris Butler
literaryreview.co.uk
How did a workers’ insurance agent who died of tuberculosis at the age of forty become a global literary icon?
@MortenHoiJensen on Kafka's metamorphosis
Morten Høi Jensen - Paranoid Humanoid
Morten Høi Jensen: Paranoid Humanoid - Metamorphoses: In Search of Franz Kafka by Karolina Watroba; Kafka: Making o...
literaryreview.co.uk