“Fiction is life with the dull bits
left out.” – Clive James
Born in Australia on this date in 1939, James was an author, critic,
broadcaster, poet and humorist who broke into the writing world in
the 1970s as a television critic for The
Observer magazine. He gained a wide
reading audience with his autobiographical series Unreliable Memoirs,
first published in 1980, and his acclaimed sketches of famous 20th century figures, Cultural Amnesia.
James, who died in November of 2019, also had four novels and several
books of poetry published, including The Book of My Enemy (2003), a volume that
takes its title from his earlier humorous poem "The Book of My Enemy Has
Been Remaindered” (a term in bookselling where books are relegated to the "last gasp" discount bin).
Humor, James said, is an essential part
of every writer’s arsenal.
“Common sense
and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense,
dancing.”
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