Got it. IA Richards mountaineer and critic. . "I. A. Richards, the eminent literary critic and scholar, knew T.S. Eliot when he was a junior member of the staff of Lloyd's Bank in Queen Henrietta Street, London, at the end of World War I. By chance he met one of Eliot's superiors on holiday in Switzerland and the two men discovered that the poet was a mutual acquaintance. The senior banker was a pleasant man who seemed unable to frame a question that he obviously wanted to put to Richards. Eventally it came out: did Richards think that Eliot was a good poet? Richards replied that in his opinion, which would not be shared by everyone, Eliot was a good poet. The other man was pleased to hear it. Some of his colleagues considered that banking and poetry did not go well together, but in his view if a man had a hobby and did it well it helped him in his work. He ended by telling Richards that he could tell Eliot that if he continued as well as he was doing at the bank, "I don't see why- in time of course, in time- he mightn't even become a branch manager." Richards found great delight in relating this conversation to Eliot.
Sorry, not quite clever enough for that, just googled 'ts eliot, hobby, banking, poetry'. I'm familiar with IA Richards mainly through his wife and climbing partner Dorothy Pilley, who wrote a lovely book about the mountains, rather than Richards' own 'The Meaning of Meaning'. So if I'd asked myself what leading literary critic was in the Alps in the 1930s I'd have come up with him.
It's so odd, how much has changed since Google. It might have been enjoyable to pull hisname out of the air as you would have done, but without then the actual story immediately available.
Oh, thank you! What an enjoyable read. Loved especially ”Not to mention Gertrude Stein (a mountaineer as well as traveller) and Mrs Aubrey Le Blonde, who traversed the Zinal Rothorn and then traversed it back again to retrieve the respectable full length skirt she'd switched for breeches at the start of the climb.”
How nice to be reading through a really interesting post about all sorts of things and then find a plug for my own Substack down in it! Thanks, E with F... Nevil Shute, I suspect that 'Ruined City' may have been one of his less popular ones. Compared with classics like Trustee from the Toolroom, Pied Piper, Town Like Alice, No Highway, Landfall.
I suspect so too. I think it was also a bit of a dry run for A Town Like Alice - at least in how to create a thriving local economy, as a theme for a novel. Will write a post about that soon. Trustee from the Toolroom is my favourite of his novels though - terrible title, wonderful story!
Actually I think TftT one of his less poor titles - it does encapsulate what the story's about. As against Landfall, Most Secret. I recently reread No Highway, but still had to recheck online that it was indeed the one about metal fatigue rather than the one about the submarine. I felt like writing a 1000 word comment about N Shute but that'd be a bit pointless here and he doesn't fit within even the discursive ambit of my own Substack.
TftT is accurate but don't know it's likely to attract the casual reader. Then again, he didn't need to at that point. I wish I could work out what it is about TftT that makes it so appealing a read! It has a very special charm but as with all his books, appears very simple. I am going to write more about Shute so I do hope you'll comment. (Did he never write any with mountains?)
The writing style is superbly lucid and straightforward, plotting, dialogue, characterisation. The appeal is what I'd call sentimental, nice things happen to a nice and underappreciated person. Game: come up with a better title! "The Miniature Mechanic" maybe?
Thank you so much for the kind words about that essay! It is so good to know that it added something.
I’ve been thinking about Nevil Shute lately too, oddly enough. Reread The Pied Piper a year or two ago, and now it’s stuck in my head even more vividly than before. A painful novel, but so beautifully done. Will keep trying to find the Wodehouse book as an antidote! Fascinating that he worked in a bank.
There was a wonderful anecdote about Eliot and his banking days in, I think, the Oxford Book of Literary Anecdotes. Will try to double back later and tell it!
It’s been decades since I read it, and the book, sadly, is in storage, so I’ll probably get all the details wrong.
But as I recall, the anecdote was by an established literary figure — a publisher or critic or some such thing — who happened to be on vacation in the Swiss Alps (or something like that).
He got into conversation with some other Englishmen who were sitting near him at dinner in the hotel (or something like that). They turned out to be senior figures at a bank. On hearing what he did for a living, one of them asked if he had ever heard of someone named T.S. Eliot.
He said that yes, he had. (One gathers that Eliot was already very well-known by then.)
As he tells the story, his dinner companion then asks if he thinks Eliot to be a *good* poet.
“Very good,” he replies.
His companions look a bit relieved. They say that Eliot is a junior colleague of theirs, and that it was very nice to hear this, as a hobby was very good thing for a banker.
(Again, heavens knows what I’m misremembering. But it was something along these lines, in any event. )
It is! Thank you for recommending. I'm one of those who can recite The Owl and the Pussy Cat (despite poor memory for poetry) but had no idea about Lear's life.
Ruined City is now on my To Read list, so thanks for that. Nevil Shute is one of those names I've heard, but with no idea what he wrote, and honestly my To Read list is always so long that it's not a good idea to actively seek out new authors!
Got it. IA Richards mountaineer and critic. . "I. A. Richards, the eminent literary critic and scholar, knew T.S. Eliot when he was a junior member of the staff of Lloyd's Bank in Queen Henrietta Street, London, at the end of World War I. By chance he met one of Eliot's superiors on holiday in Switzerland and the two men discovered that the poet was a mutual acquaintance. The senior banker was a pleasant man who seemed unable to frame a question that he obviously wanted to put to Richards. Eventally it came out: did Richards think that Eliot was a good poet? Richards replied that in his opinion, which would not be shared by everyone, Eliot was a good poet. The other man was pleased to hear it. Some of his colleagues considered that banking and poetry did not go well together, but in his view if a man had a hobby and did it well it helped him in his work. He ended by telling Richards that he could tell Eliot that if he continued as well as he was doing at the bank, "I don't see why- in time of course, in time- he mightn't even become a branch manager." Richards found great delight in relating this conversation to Eliot.
That's wonderful! Thank you.
But now I'm longing to know — did you guess immediately that it was IA Richards? I love that, somehow…
Sorry, not quite clever enough for that, just googled 'ts eliot, hobby, banking, poetry'. I'm familiar with IA Richards mainly through his wife and climbing partner Dorothy Pilley, who wrote a lovely book about the mountains, rather than Richards' own 'The Meaning of Meaning'. So if I'd asked myself what leading literary critic was in the Alps in the 1930s I'd have come up with him.
It's so odd, how much has changed since Google. It might have been enjoyable to pull hisname out of the air as you would have done, but without then the actual story immediately available.
When you said above that Richards was a mountaineer it rang a bell, and now with Dorothy Pillay's name added I could place it properly: https://open.substack.com/pub/akennedysmith/p/manless-climbing-dorothy-pilley-richards-1894-1986?r=2u2cxe&utm_medium=ios. Had enjoyed that one very much! Also EJ Barnes's piece right here, and yours on Leslie Stephens (while we're on mountains and literature).
A bit harder to find but I wrote about Dorothy Pilley too... https://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/literature/mountain_literature_classics_climbing_days_by_dorothy_pilley-12966
Oh, thank you! What an enjoyable read. Loved especially ”Not to mention Gertrude Stein (a mountaineer as well as traveller) and Mrs Aubrey Le Blonde, who traversed the Zinal Rothorn and then traversed it back again to retrieve the respectable full length skirt she'd switched for breeches at the start of the climb.”
How marvelous to read this again — it's like encountering an old friend after decades. Thank you!
How nice to be reading through a really interesting post about all sorts of things and then find a plug for my own Substack down in it! Thanks, E with F... Nevil Shute, I suspect that 'Ruined City' may have been one of his less popular ones. Compared with classics like Trustee from the Toolroom, Pied Piper, Town Like Alice, No Highway, Landfall.
I suspect so too. I think it was also a bit of a dry run for A Town Like Alice - at least in how to create a thriving local economy, as a theme for a novel. Will write a post about that soon. Trustee from the Toolroom is my favourite of his novels though - terrible title, wonderful story!
Actually I think TftT one of his less poor titles - it does encapsulate what the story's about. As against Landfall, Most Secret. I recently reread No Highway, but still had to recheck online that it was indeed the one about metal fatigue rather than the one about the submarine. I felt like writing a 1000 word comment about N Shute but that'd be a bit pointless here and he doesn't fit within even the discursive ambit of my own Substack.
TftT is accurate but don't know it's likely to attract the casual reader. Then again, he didn't need to at that point. I wish I could work out what it is about TftT that makes it so appealing a read! It has a very special charm but as with all his books, appears very simple. I am going to write more about Shute so I do hope you'll comment. (Did he never write any with mountains?)
The writing style is superbly lucid and straightforward, plotting, dialogue, characterisation. The appeal is what I'd call sentimental, nice things happen to a nice and underappreciated person. Game: come up with a better title! "The Miniature Mechanic" maybe?
It's taken me awhile but "Model Hero"? To be honest I think almost anything would be better than Trustee from the Toolroom!
Thank you so much for the kind words about that essay! It is so good to know that it added something.
I’ve been thinking about Nevil Shute lately too, oddly enough. Reread The Pied Piper a year or two ago, and now it’s stuck in my head even more vividly than before. A painful novel, but so beautifully done. Will keep trying to find the Wodehouse book as an antidote! Fascinating that he worked in a bank.
There was a wonderful anecdote about Eliot and his banking days in, I think, the Oxford Book of Literary Anecdotes. Will try to double back later and tell it!
Thank you Maria. I'd be intrigued to hear the Eliot banking anecdote.
It’s been decades since I read it, and the book, sadly, is in storage, so I’ll probably get all the details wrong.
But as I recall, the anecdote was by an established literary figure — a publisher or critic or some such thing — who happened to be on vacation in the Swiss Alps (or something like that).
He got into conversation with some other Englishmen who were sitting near him at dinner in the hotel (or something like that). They turned out to be senior figures at a bank. On hearing what he did for a living, one of them asked if he had ever heard of someone named T.S. Eliot.
He said that yes, he had. (One gathers that Eliot was already very well-known by then.)
As he tells the story, his dinner companion then asks if he thinks Eliot to be a *good* poet.
“Very good,” he replies.
His companions look a bit relieved. They say that Eliot is a junior colleague of theirs, and that it was very nice to hear this, as a hobby was very good thing for a banker.
(Again, heavens knows what I’m misremembering. But it was something along these lines, in any event. )
Love the bit about a hobby being a good thing for a banker!
The book is a delightful book! I had a copy as a teenager, and adored it.
Tracked down the original of this great anecdote - pasted in lower down the comments. Thanks!
Oh, how marvelous! Thanks fpr letting me know!
Well this is very nice - thank you Emma for the mention!
I, for one, would be very happy to hear more about the connection between Keynes and Woolf (the Keynes-Keynes - haha)
I'll see what I can do. (There is a nice photo of the Keynes-Keynes.)
Thanks so much for the mention, Emma! I always enjoy Liz Gwedhan's posts and this one on Edward Lear is lovely: https://substack.com/home/post/p-156011259?source=queue&autoPlay=false
It is! Thank you for recommending. I'm one of those who can recite The Owl and the Pussy Cat (despite poor memory for poetry) but had no idea about Lear's life.
Ruined City is now on my To Read list, so thanks for that. Nevil Shute is one of those names I've heard, but with no idea what he wrote, and honestly my To Read list is always so long that it's not a good idea to actively seek out new authors!