Poetry Forum

I aquired Roger's auto biog for xmas and a good read it is too. One chapter is called "Larkin"

Mcgough was an undergraduate at Hull when Larkin was the Librarian there. Anyway one day a friend of Mcgough's was at the bus stop in the pissing rain: sod it I'll just type it straight out of the book:

"Neville told me of a time he was standing at a bus stop in the pouring rain, when Larkin, beneath the black dome of a capacious umbrella walked up and stood about two yards away. The rain was getting heavier and there was no shelter. Eventually, Neville plucked up the courage and moved closer to the bone-dry poet. 'I did enjoy the "North ship",'Larkin stared down at him and said, 'If you think you can begin a conversation in order to share my umbrella you've got another think coming.' And with that he pressed the catch on his umbrella so that it folded close around his head.

Gotta love him.

That image of Larkin with a clamped-down umbrella over his head would have won a pullitzer if only Neville had been a photographer.

Classic.

Yes, he was a thoroughly nice chap:

1) Tight as a duck's arse.
2) Right wing.
3) Had a huge stash of pornography.
4) And when people applied for jobs in the library at Hull, he used to write back criticising their spelling and punctuation.

/

Yes, he gave out the impression of being a confirmed batchelor (sexual intercourse began in 1963 and all that) but at one point he was involved with Monica Jones, Maeve Brennan and his secretary. Dirty b*****d.

speaking of Larkin and of autobiogs (I devour autobiogs like they're going out of fashion!) I'm reading Andrew Collins' "Where did it all go so right?" it's about his uneventful childhood in the 70's, a bit of a backlash at all the autobiogs full of angst and repression. He seems to have it in for Dave Pelzer (who I have never read) but it's a very funny book (so far anyway) and he parodies Larkin by saying ...

"They tuck me up, my mum and dad"

Well, I thought it was funny

p.s. Can I borrow Roger's autobiog when you're done with it please?

"They tuck me up, my mum and dad" is funny. That sounds like a great book.

I've got the sequel "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" already waiting in the wings! I'm so nosey that I can't resist a good autobiog!

I've just finished Gene Simmons autobiog and would highly recommend it- the title alone is a work of genius "Kiss and make-up"


nuff said...

"They tuck me up, my mum and dad"

LOL, classic.

Sure you can borrow Roger's autobiog - Said and Done is the title. Just don't send me the Kiss one.

I'm hanging out for Morrissey's.

camus wrote:"They tuck me up, my mum and dad"

LOL, classic.

Sure you can borrow Roger's autobiog - Said and Done is the title. Just don't send me the Kiss one.

I'm hanging out for Morrissey's.

your pic with the carp, emulates Simmons' obsession for obscurity during the KISS with make-up era! You shouldn't be so koi! (coy, gettit?) LOL


speaking of Morrisey, the sequel to "Where did it go so right?" is "Heaven Knows I'm miserable now"...


BTW your www don't work

cameron wrote:Classic.

Yes, he was a thoroughly nice chap:

1) Tight as a duck's arse.
2) Right wing.
3) Had a huge stash of pornography.
4) And when people applied for jobs in the library at Hull, he used to write back criticising their spelling and punctuation.

And to top it, he had three women on the go.

How I'm compelled to envy such a life.

I kinda like the bit about the parents screwing you up. One of those perennial truths. As a parent, you are damned if you do and damned if you don't. I bet my daughter's gonna grow up complaining that her parents weren't strict disciplinarians.

The thing about biographies and autobiographies is that it omits certain things.

I just finished reading "The Double Bond" by Carole Angier. It was upsetting in most parts. Even thinking of Primo Levi makes me sad.