Why did Louis MacNeice have to wait thirty years for a biography? He died comparatively young - aged 55 - and was outlived by almost everyone he knew: wives, girlfriends, classmates, colleagues. He led an active public life, had two careers - in universities and with the BBC - and was well known as a poet from quite early on. He was a pub-dweller, he travelled a lot, and through his radio work was in contact with many talkative celebs: actors, musicians, singers as well as literary types. For a quick-off-the-mark chronicler, there might have been rich pickings.

LRB 9 March 1995 | PDF Download