If his friends are to be believed, Cyril Conolly was a monster of sloth and self-regard. And yet, what an endearing figure he cuts through their letters and memoirs.
'Only his handwriting seemed to locate him exactly, to ground his body in the act of writing and thinking and breathing; each stroke of the pen a black ink tether that tied me to him and him to me.'
'Inspired by his loathing of the hypocrites and knaves who surrounded him, Rochester aimed to show his friends (and enemies) that he was a serious and considered thinker.'
DEGOTTEX: Sought to reveal self-sufficient personal vision spontaneously; DORFLES: Born in Trieste, lived in Milan; ENGEL-PAK: A chequered career as a young man.
