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Since arriving from Australia in the 1960s, Clive James has trod a tricky path between popular and high culture. In one field, he finds no joke too vulgar (think back to the 1980s, when his regular TV shows usually included a gleeful relay of clips from sadistic Japanese game shows); in the other, no text is too highbrow. Few, however, remember his lyrical contributions to the records of Pete Atkin, which resulted in some of the most literate and delightful popular music of the 1970s. His versatility has often rebounded on him - to some, he is viewed as a great wit, to others, he is unbearably smug. In recent times, however, James has decided to turn his back on the TV and reclaim the high ground as a serious writer and critic. Unsurprisingly for one who was for many years the Observer's TV critic, there are musings about the gogglebox, but for the most part, this collection consists of essays on Evelyn Waugh, Nabokov, Seamus Heaney and a four-part work on the poet Philip Larkin. And jolly fine essays they are, too - the serious analysis often being leavened by James' humour. Many of the pieces have appeared elsewhere before, but this represents both a handy anthology for the converted and a primer for the new reader.

Clive James is the author of more than forty books. As well as essays, he has published collections of literary and television criticism, travel writing, verse and novels, plus five volumes of autobiography, Unreliable Memoirs, Falling Towards England, May Week Was In June, North Face of Soho and The Blaze of Obscurity. As a television performer he appeared regularly for both the BBC and ITV, most notably as writer and presenter of the Postcard series of travel documentaries. His popular Radio 4 series A Point of View has been published in volume form. He has also published several poetry collections, a verse commentary of Proust, Gate of Lilacs, and a translation of Dante's The Divine Comedy. In 1992 he was made a Member of the Order of Australia and in 2003 he was awarded the Philip Hodgins memorial medal for literature. He holds honorary doctorates from Sydney University and the University of East Anglia. In 2012 he was appointed CBE and in 2013 an Officer of the Order of Australia.