13 January. One of Peter Cook's jokes, several times quoted in his obituaries, is of two men chatting. 'I'm writing a novel,' says one, whereupon the other says: 'Yes, neither am I.' And of course it's funny and has a point, except that Peter, I suspect, felt that this disposed of the matter entirely. That people did write novels or poetry and were heartfelt about it didn't make much difference; literature, music - it was just the stuff of cocktail party chatter; nobody really did it, still less genuinely enjoyed it when it was done. Forget plays, pictures, concerts: newspapers were the only reality - not that one could believe them either.

LRB 4 January 1996 | PDF Download