{"id":276,"date":"2007-05-27T17:28:46","date_gmt":"2007-05-27T21:28:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thewormbook.com\/hlog\/?p=276"},"modified":"2007-05-27T17:28:46","modified_gmt":"2007-05-27T21:28:46","slug":"vain-echoes-desisting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.thewormbook.com\/hlog\/?p=276","title":{"rendered":"Vain echoes, desisting."},"content":{"rendered":"

I have devoured Zachary Leader’s biography of Kingsley Amis, whom I hugely admire, and I wish in some ways that the book had been twice as long. But any life of Amis must have elements of a temperance tract, and from this fact emerge some interesting figures. Here, for instance, is the meal he ordered at the Berkeley Hotel in Knightsbridge, when the Sunday Express<\/em> took him to lunch there in February 1988: He began with a couple of martinis (“a proper drink”) while deciding to eat dressed crab and steak tartare. After he ‘boasted modestly’ that he knew nothing about wine, he ordered a Chablis Grand Cru (£44) and then a 1970 Chateau Lafite-Rothschild (£140).<\/span> Then a glass of Sauternes with his raspberries; port with the cheese and a large Calvados to mop up any survivors.<\/p>\n\n

Three years later, in one characteristic month, he spent £315 on radio taxis; his bar bill at the Garrick was £432; drink for consumption at home cost him a further £1032. No wonder he considered his divorce had bankrupted him.<\/p>\n\n

A couple of years later, he fell down some stairs after lunch:<\/p>\n\n

Amis drank between a half and a quarter bottle of whisky, Gewurztraminer with the meal itself and a Cointreau as digestif. Morgan remembers him as ‘completely articulate’ at the end of the meal. ‘He wasn’t drunk or anything like that,’ Virginia Rush remembers.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

But of course, he knew what had happened, and wrote it down, exactly. Here is an unfinished poem, apparently published in the TLS<\/span><\/em> in 2004 but not during Amis’ lifetime, which Leader found among his papers:<\/p>\n\n

Things tell less and less:
\nThe news impersonal
\nAnd from afar; no book
\nWorth wrenching off the shelf.
\nLiquor brings dizziness
\nAnd food discomfort; all
\nMusic sounds thin and tired,
\nAnd what picture could earn a look?
\nThe self drowses in the self
\nBeyond hope of a visitor.
\nDesire and those desired
\nFade, and no matter:
\nMemories in decay
\nAnnihilate the day.<\/p>\n\n

There once was an answer:
\nUp at the stroke of seven,
\nA turn round the garden (Breathing deep and slow),
\nThen work, never mind what,
\nHow small, provided that
\nIt serves another’s good.<\/p>\n\n

But once is long ago
\nAnd, tell me, how could
\nSuch an answer be less than wrong,
\nBe right all along?<\/p>\n\n

Vain echoes, desist<\/p><\/blockquote>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have devoured Zachary Leader’s biography of Kingsley Amis, whom I hugely admire, and I wish in some ways that the book had been twice as long. But any life of Amis must have elements of a temperance tract, and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thewormbook.com\/hlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thewormbook.com\/hlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thewormbook.com\/hlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thewormbook.com\/hlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thewormbook.com\/hlog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.thewormbook.com\/hlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thewormbook.com\/hlog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thewormbook.com\/hlog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thewormbook.com\/hlog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}