'I was approached by a courteous young man who handed me a visiting card engraved with his name, Joseph, and his profession: Senior Officers' Pimp.' Norman Lewis embarks on his career as a British spy in Arabia 'Why yes, what a pleasure to meet you.' He shook my hand. 'Refresh my memory. Do I owe you something?' Michael Mewshaw at last runs into his hero: Anthony Burgess 'Conversation was daunting. He seemed to have made up his brilliant mind about every possible topic, and condensed his conclusions into unanswerable aphorisms.' Richard Murphy meets W. H. Auden - and also Theodore Roethke and J. R. Ackerley PLUS New fiction from Anne Enright, Jackie Kay, Adam Mars-Jones, John McGahern and Paul Therous; in the operating theatre, Paul Broks explores the uncertain life of the brain; and the hidden world of seaports in photographs by Alex Majoli and words by James Hamilton-Paterson.

How do you cope with the great, if you yourself are not so great? Do you speak, do you listen, in the face of every difficulty do you try to please? The sensible thing to do is keep a diary. Irish poet Richard Murphy remembers his experiences with Auden, J.R. Ackerley and Theodore Roethke.

About the Author
Ian Jack edited Granta from 1995 to 2007, having previously edited the Independent on Sunday. He has written on many subjects, including the Titanic, Kathleen Ferrier, the Hatfield train crash and the three members of the IRA active-service unit who were killed on Gibraltar. He is the editor of The Granta Book of Reportage and The Granta Book of India, and the author of a collection of journalism, The Country Formerly Known as Great Britain. He is working, not very quickly, on a book about the River Clyde.


Book Information
ISBN 9780903141468
Author Ian Jack
Format Paperback
Page Count 256
Imprint Granta Books
Publisher Granta Books
Weight(grams) 350g
Dimensions(mm) 210mm * 146mm * 14mm