Just what we didn't need: another bio of sourpuss Edmund Wilson. He was a writer, a prolific one, ergo he sat in front of a typewriter most of his life and occasionally had odd trysts with the opposite sex. Symposia has always claimed to adore his work but if truth be told we have never enjoyed them because there were so many words, so densely packed it all was very headachy.

We remember our ex Lee Beier calling him from New York in the 1960s and asking to meet him; of course the answer was negative, but he was such an icon of the time. Today a 23 year old would ..oh never mind.....