The appearance of Philip Larkin's second prose collection - reviews and critical assessments of writers and writing; pieces on jazz, mostly uncollected; some long, revealing and often highly entertaining interviews given on various occasions - was a considerable literary event. Stamped by wit, originality and intelligence, it was vintage Larkin throughout:

'Deprivation is for me what daffodils were for Wordsworth.'
'I see life more as an affair of solitude diversified by company than as an affair of company diversified by solitude.'

Q. 'How did you arrive upon the image of a toad for work or labour?'

A. 'Sheer genius.'

Required Writing: Miscellaneous Pieces 1955-1982 by Philip Larkin collects the widely loved poet's essays, reviews, writings on jazz and some revealing and entertaining interviews.

About the Author
Philip Larkin, poet, novelist and librarian, was born in Coventry in 1922. He published four volumes of poetry - The North Ship (1945), The Less Deceived (1955), The Whitsun Weddings (1964) and High Windows (1974) - for which he received innumerable honours including the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry and the WH Smith Award. He also wrote two novels, Jill (1946) and A Girl in Winter (1947), and his journalism is collected in two volumes, All What Jazz: A Record Diary and Required Writing: Miscellaneous Prose. He worked as librarian at the University of Hull from 1955 until his death in 1985. In 2003, he was chosen as Britain's best-loved poet of the previous fifty years by the Poetry Book Society; in 2008, The Times named him Britain's greatest post-war writer; and in 2016, a memorial stone in his name was unveiled in Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey.


Book Information
ISBN 9780571131204
Author Philip Larkin
Format Paperback
Page Count 320
Imprint Faber & Faber
Publisher Faber & Faber
Weight(grams) 220g
Dimensions(mm) 192mm * 125mm * 19mm