Peter Levi
James Lees-Milne has produced a diary (A Mingled Measure, John Murray, £19.99) so sparkling and readable, so surprising and so wise and often so funny it has cheered me all day for weeks and weeks. It beats Alan Clark by a rather long whisker, enter- taining as he is. The purest, strongest poet- ry to appear at present, lyrically and morally, is by Thomas A. Clarke. Other- wise Logue's Homer, The Husbands, is the best new poetry in years; Homer for him has been a lifework. Another translation that gave me powerful pleasure was that of Oktay Rifat, a modern Turkish poet who reminded me of Laforgue and of Nikos Gatsos (Voices of Memory, translated by Christie and McKane, Rockingham Press) The most over-estimated book this year is almost certain to be poetry and in English, but I do not know whose Hype has now reached Helicon.
Previous page
