It’s hard to think of anyone who writes about drinking with more authority, finesse, and psychological sensitivity than the late Kingsley Amis, who could, no surprise, really put it away. His first editor, Hilary Rubenstein, found it implausible that the protagonist of Lucky Jim could drink ten pints of beer at the pub in a single evening, but that, as . . .
“The Catholic Church was derived from three sources. Its sacred history was Jewish, its theology was Greek, its government and canon law were, at least indirectly, Roman… In Catholic doctrine, divine revelation did not end with the scriptures, but continued from age to age through the medium of the Church, to which, therefore, it was the duty of the individual . . .
I’ve been spending more time at my Tumblr recently. Over the years it’s come to feel like a better place for bloggy stuff that doesn’t fit on Twitter or warrant a longer post here.
At the New York Times Magazine, I wonder whether Tom Stoppard sided with Graham Greene or Anthony Burgess in adapting Ford Madox Ford’s Parade’s End. And why we in the U.S. have to wait so long to find out.
Putting together my first package for Quarterly Co. feels a lot like assembling the cards and songs and books and other objects I used to send friends and boys in college, except with 100% fewer stickers: Here’s this thing I’ve been reading! Here’s this other, related thing! Here’s a long, gushy letter telling you all the reasons I am sending . . .