Talk:Author! Author!

by Alan Vanneman (2014)

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"The Transfiguration of W. H. Auden"

To be rich, or at least comfortable, was not beyond Wystan’s capabilities, but it was beyond his desire. There was a comfort in his wretchedness. He was free, after all, from the necessity of keeping up appearances, of pretending that he wished to be presentable, which he did not. It was pleasant to see people wince at the sight of him; it was worth even wearing glasses, which unfortunately obscured his hideous, rheumy eyes.  ¶

"The Apotheosis of John Updike", Part I

He didn’t mind the opportunity to absorb, in solitude, this lower upper-level baronial setting. For the Momsons, he felt, though completely successful, still had a budget of some sort.

ib.

It was all “honesty”, that desperately Wyethian affectation that affectedly fled affectation in all directions.

ib.

The grossest shit in history had been the cleanest as well.  ¶

ib.

There was a great deal of money around [at John Updike's reading at Hotel Marriott], and some taste, but as for wit, as for beauty, there was nothing.  ¶

Part II

A young wife! How wicked! Too wicked, really, for Updike, a spoiled adulterer, who wanted both his sin and his self-respect! How vulgar, how deserving the contempt of smug virtue and wanton corruption alike! His dick slept, as well it should.  ¶