Sublime

haphazard

self-abnegating

Thomas Merton

Ken McCarthy,

His gallantry reliably extends to whatever is disadvantaged, homely, long-suffering, foreign or feminine. Kind to stragglers and also-rans, to well-meaning duds and worthies, and correspondingly cautious in his praise of acknowledged stars and masters, Updike’s view of twentieth-century literature is a levelling one. Talent, like life, should be av

Maxwell Perkins gave all his authors the feeling that he cared as much for their work as they did themselves.