We are deeply saddened by the passing of the President of the Philip Larkin Society, Anthony Thwaite.  Anthony has held that role since the foundation of the Society in 1995 and only last year renewed his appointment for a further five years. To the presidency, he brought his reputation as a poet, his Larkin scholarship and his influential role as a Larkin executor. But he also brought his experience, his wisdom and his charm. Until ill health intervened in recent years, he was an incredibly loyal chair of the Annual Distinguished PLS lecture. He himself gave presentations and was a skilful interviewer at the launch of important Larkin books. He played a key part in two of the most joyous PLS moments: the unveiling of the Larkin statue in Hull and the memorialisation of Larkin in Poets’ Corner.

He leaves behind Ann, herself a distinguished author and powerful ally to Anthony in his presidency. To her we have offered our deepest condolences.

In due course, the Executive Committee will bend its mind to finding a successor. Quite some task.

On this month’s podcast, Zachary Leader discusses the Larkin-Amis friendship: “…deprivation and restriction powered a really violent, mocking satire. They made fun of all kinds of folly and vice, but did so with Juvenalian raillery and bite.”

Professor Zachary Leader is Professor of English Literature at the University of Roehampton. He grew up in California but has lived in Britain for over forty years. He was educated at Northwestern University, Trinity College, Cambridge and Harvard and is the author of several books including Reading Blake’s Songs, Writer’s Block, Revision and Romantic Authorship.

In 2000 Harper Collins published his edited Letters of Kingsley Amis followed by a highly regarded biography of Amis before he turned his attention to Saul Bellow, with the second part of acclaimed two-volume biography published in 2019. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Professor Leader’s work on Amis is filled with insights into the lifelong friendship between Kingsley Amis and Philip Larkin and this is what we’ll be discussing today.

References:
Kingsley Amis novels; Lucky Jim (1954), Take a Girl Like You (1960), The Anti-Death League (1966), The Alteration (1976), The Old Devils (1986)

Larkin poems: Church Going ( published 1954), Posterity (published 1976)
Kingsley Amis poem: Drinking Song (published in The New Statesman in 1978)
The Letters of Kingsley Amis, edited by Z. Leader, London: HarperCollins, 2000; New York: Talk/Miramax, 1208pp. (2001)
The Life of Kingsley Amis, Hardcover, New York: Random House, 1008 pp. (2006)
Presented by Lyn Lockwood and Julian Henry.
Theme music: ‘The Horns Of The Morning’ by The Mechanicals Band. Buy ‘The Righteous Jazz’ at their Bandcamp page: https://themechanicalsband.bandcamp.com/album/the-righteous-jazz
Audio production by Simon Galloway.