"When his eyes began to fail and writing became a chore, we agreed to communicate thenceforth by phone. Now, on a greyish Sunday afternoon, approaching five o’clock, I want for his voice. It was one of the most beautiful voices I’ve ever known to issue from a man’s face – a lilting voice at once quizzical, playful, speculative and desirous of not just literature but also a decent bottle of wine, a splash of Poulenc or Mompou playing in the background and, above all, the light and colour one finds in the French paintings he so loved. Marius Kociejowski on Christopher Middleton • PN Review (scroll down)

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