This long-awaited biography has, apparently, transformed some anti-PLF'ers into fans. For me it has done the exact opposite. Freya Stark described him as "a Hellenistic lesser sea-god of a rather low period", Somerset Maugham as "a middle-class gigolo for upper-class women". 'Paddy' emerges as a man determined to live life on his own terms but on other people's money. Does this book spoil my appreciation of him as a writer? Sadly, the answer is 'yes'.
(Jeremy Miller - bwl 68 Spring 2013 ) |
