i'm very conscious in my lifetime, because i met him, what a bad reputation philip larkin developed,er his death. and yet he seems to me one of the great 20th—century poets, and nothing that he wrote, for me, is tainted by the fact that he was accused of racism and misogyny and so on. so, i think this is a really difficult one. could i now watch a kevin spacey film and not be troubled, knowing what i know about him? i like to think that maybe, yes, the integrity of the film doesn't suffer from what we know about the man. but i would assert it all the more in the case of writers. yes, unless, isuppose, it implies tacit approval on our part, if we continue to read their work, watch the films etc? yeah, i think we can like the work and condemn the person for their actions in their private life. but the art, the work, it does, for me, always stand a little apart from the life. there's another line in the book where the poet says there's no point being a poet now, if you're white, middle—aged, middle—class and english, you are a dinosaur. i did just wonder if there are white, middle—class