4 replies
    • admin
      admin says:

      I remember the lunch when we discussed my review–very tense. I couldn’t bring myself to back down. He said it was the review that hurt him the most. Book review drama. I was glad when I could review him later without such misgivings. I like to think I pushed him in that direction. I was very fond of Oliver.

      Reply
      • Joseph K.
        Joseph K. says:

        It’s strange that an evidently brilliant man would be hurt instead of gratified by being done an intellectual favor by another brilliant mind, being given accurate and incisive criticisms of the content and style of his work. Would he have preferred to keep making the same mistakes, or writing the same tacky sentences? Contrast Russell: “I feel a real and solid pleasure when anybody points out a fallacy in any of my views, because I care much less about my opinions than about their being true.”

        Reply
        • admin
          admin says:

          I quite agree, but he had a lot of self-doubt. And no one likes a negative review. He did grudgingly admit that I had helped cure him of his intellectual vices.

          Reply

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