56
PARTISAN REVIEW
The second part of the answer goes back
to
my twelfth principle of
biography: always remember the responsibility of the biographer
to
do
justice to your subject, because a literary reputation is not only based on
the writings of a writer, it's based on what the biographer and critics
have to say.
If
I'm
the only one so far who has written a life of Wynd–
ham Lewis or Edmund Wi lson, then most people studying or reading or
trying to understand those people will be very influenced by what I have
to say. So that's your responsibility
to
the future. And I think you should
never write a biography when you want to do someone down. You
really have to have admiration for your subject, and that will fire you
with the energy to get through a very laborious project.
When I went around trying
to
see all these friends of Wyndham
Lewis, Geoffrey Grigson, who is a very fierce and feared person, bur
who was in fact wonderful to me, said, "Well, do you like Lewis, or
what?" and I said, "Oh, yes, I really think Lewis is .... " And once I per–
suaded Grigson that I wasn't going
to
do Lewis down, as everybody had
always been doing, then he wanted
to
cooperate with me. I went for the
interview, and I stayed for tea, and I stayed for dinner, and I was politely
getting up and offering
to
go, and finally we were out in the Wiltshire
countryside, and there is no electricity outside the house, so he takes his
lantern and he leads me to the car, and he wipes off the windshield him–
self,
to
guide me out of the Wiltshire fog. And he gives me this kind of–
not religious but paternal-blessing, like, do a good job, be worthy of
the subject, admire and see what genius is there.
It
was a terrific shot in
the arm-to have won his esteem.
Edith Kurzweil : I
want
to
thank you all. But it's time
to
close now. We'll
continue
to
talk about these issues after lunch.
