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Product Description
Philip Larkin's Required Writing, a selection from his miscellaneous prose from 1953-82, was highly praised and enjoyed when it appeared in 1983. Further Requirements gathers together many other interviews, broadcasts, statements and reviews. Some of them date from the period after he had chosen the contents of Required Writing; others come from obscure publications, including some early pieces. This second edition of Further Requirements includes two more essays by Larkin: 'Operation Manuscript' and his Introduction to Earth Memories by Llewelyn Powys.
About the Author
As one of Philip Larkin's chosen literary executors, Anthony Thwaite edited the Collected Poems, Selected Letters and Further Requirements. His own Collected Poems, drawing on fifty years work, was published in 2007.
Philip Larkin was born in Coventry in 1922 and was educated at King Henry VIII School, Coventry, and St John's College, Oxford. As well as his volumes of poems, which include The Whitsun Weddings and High Windows, he wrote two novels, Jill and A Girl in Winter, and two books of collected journalism: All What Jazz: A Record Library, and Required Writing: Miscellaneous Prose. He worked as a librarian at the University of Hull from 1955 until his death in 1985. He was the best-loved poet of his generation, and the recipient of innumerable honours, including the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry, and the WHSmith Award.
Philip Larkin was born in Coventry in 1922 and was educated at King Henry VIII School, Coventry, and St John's College, Oxford. As well as his volumes of poems, which include The Whitsun Weddings and High Windows, he wrote two novels, Jill and A Girl in Winter, and two books of collected journalism: All What Jazz: A Record Library, and Required Writing: Miscellaneous Prose. He worked as a librarian at the University of Hull from 1955 until his death in 1985. He was the best-loved poet of his generation, and the recipient of innumerable honours, including the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry, and the WHSmith Award.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Mr Thwaite is recognised as 'the' authority on the life and work of the late Poet Philip Larkin, despite a tremendous biography by Andrew Motion. In this volume, Mr Thwaite brings together many reviews and cover notes by Larkin, as well as interviews and statements, all previously missing in one collective. Highlights must surely be Larkin's 'Desert Island Discs' interview (previously unavailable as a script and an addition that the BBC seemingly will not repeat broadcast), and Larkin's notes and views on Betjeman. The 'Betjeman' pieces clearly show not only a total understanding by Larkin, but also a deeply felt admiration of a fellow Poet. In this book, and that of it's volume predecessor "Required Writing" Mr Thwaite ensures that 'us' readers are brought into context/focus with Larkin's real voice, the one on the page but also the one spoken publicly. Assuming that you believe the 'voice' coming through, only now can we Larkin fans appreciate why the man went through so much isolation reclusiveness and self imposed withdrawal. Mr Larkin was a powerful medium and there is now no doubting that he was sharp, full of wit when deemed appropriate, but above all totally at peace with his pace but at odds with a changing world. May I commend Mr Thwaite on this splendid volume and convey the need for Faber & Faber to reprint without delay, "Required Writing." Given the popularity of Larkin today, Mr Thwaite's editorial work must encourage repeats of the BBC's "Moniter" programme and other gems such as the radio programme already mentioned. In Mr Larkin's voice, "...this be the verse!" and this book "Further Requirements" be worthy of purchase.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
...not the contents, which fully deserve five stars and more, and which the above reviewers have properly conveyed the quality and importance. It is the tactile quality of the book I take issue with. I was appalled, and it is, quite frankly a disgrace, at any price. PL would surely wax apoplectic at this presentation. Quite the cheapest nastiest quality of paper (it smells most unpleasant), glued spine, and the text is off centre (towards the spine). Consequently you have to bend the book open more than usual to read it and pages are starting to come adrift already. The paper itself will surely go (even more) discoloured very soon. There can be no excuse for this cost cutting/profit maximisation. The reading experiance is thoroughly debased. I would willingley pay extra for a better quality product. It would be interesting if Faber could respond, and explain themselves, but I'm not going to hold my breath. An insult to the reader, let alone the author.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
At a first glance, Further Requirements might not appear quite the match for Required Writing. Some might call it an echo, of varying volume, for it is the mixture as before: interviews, statements (that deadly form beloved of magazine editors at one time), reviews. Best to think of it as a parallel universe fashioned by Anthony Thwaite in which one goes through Larkin's life again: the pattern is familiar, tweaked here and there, with halts at some subjects again, and with more on Waugh this time around, including a dissenting view on the Letters, and that continual, invigorating engagement with the books sent to him. He knows his stuff, and this is particularly acute in such items as a detailed review of the first volume of Hardy's Letters. Larkin states that the biography which Hardy wrote under his wife's name is highly readable. Those who do not know it often dismiss it.
Further Requirements is a book to own. Every reader will find more in it, such as his noting that the essay is enjoying new popularity in America. "Can there still be legions of prairie-surrounded televisionless, with nothing to do in the long evenings but read under the oil lamp by a hot stove?"
You do not need to be on a prairie to enjoy this book, and even F R Leavis might have resisted hurling it in the logburner.
Goodness knows what Larkin, a librarian, would have made of Brighton's decision to hide it in the reserve stock. That deprives the volume of its natural state: something that chanced upon will be an abiding delight, the distillation of Larkin's world which is one we share but which he made his own: a parallel universe indeed, near-genius.
Further Requirements is a book to own. Every reader will find more in it, such as his noting that the essay is enjoying new popularity in America. "Can there still be legions of prairie-surrounded televisionless, with nothing to do in the long evenings but read under the oil lamp by a hot stove?"
You do not need to be on a prairie to enjoy this book, and even F R Leavis might have resisted hurling it in the logburner.
Goodness knows what Larkin, a librarian, would have made of Brighton's decision to hide it in the reserve stock. That deprives the volume of its natural state: something that chanced upon will be an abiding delight, the distillation of Larkin's world which is one we share but which he made his own: a parallel universe indeed, near-genius.
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