My Appointment with the Muse

These essays by the novelist who gave us The Raj Quartet and Staying On (both of which have found an even wider audience through television) and eight other novels, are in many cases not essays written for the printed page but lectures by Paul Scott. Some of the earlier ones were given in England, others while Scott was visiting professor at a university in the United States. His voice, sense of humour, originality of approach to the whole craft of w of writing comes a lively man and a lively through. He was novelist and enjoyed cocking a snook at the solemn, e.g. 'Well, if the novel is dead, all I can say is that it's having a lovely funeral.' Here is a fine novelist talking about writing. His essays and lectures are presented by the kind of academic of whom Scott would have approved (Shelley Reece is Professor in the Department of English at Portland State University, Oregon) not so much because Reece admires his writing but because he knows how to bring Scott and his opinions to life.