The story goes that, on the day when William Empson moved into Magdalene College, Cambridge, to take up a fellowship, his suitcases (as was the custom in those days) were unpacked by one of the college servants. The gyp was so shocked by the contents of Empson's bags that he decided to report him to the college authorities. Next morning the young poet and critic was summoned before the senior dons and accused of concealing 'sexual machinery' in his luggage. Empson received his marching orders, and the best that his mentor I.A. Richards, also a fellow of Magdalene, could do was to fix him up with a hastily-arranged professorship in Tokyo.

LRB 21 April 1988 | PDF Download