The Watcher Cat

The Watcher Cat

Friday, October 11, 2013

Two Fat Englishmen

I have recently been reading with enjoyment some of the novels of Simon Raven. I have also enjoyed a fair amount of the novels of Kingsley Amis, especially The Green Man and The Old Devils.

Amis, like Raven, lived an unconventional life; bibulous, with complicated romantic entanglements, and a level of self-indulgence that cannot have been good for either of them. Amis was by far the bigger figure in their day, though Raven matched him for wit, if exceeding him in snobbery. Still, they both left behind interesting literary remains--novels that are of their time, but still work, and have a certain louche charm to them that most writing today lacks.

Anyway, you can imagine my enjoyment of the spectacle of Raven interviewing Amis:


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