Publisher's Synopsis
John Bayley, the distinguished writer and critic, is perhaps most famously the husband of Iris Murdoch, a great novelist and intellectual genius in her own right, and the subject of his touching memoir, Elegy for Iris, which details her deteriorization from AlzheimerÆs disease. While Elegy for Iris was his external story, John BayleyÆs new anthology, Hand Luggage, is the internal dialogue he maintained during that trying time. Throughout his wifeÆs illness, Bayley kept a journal of extracts culled from a wide range of letters, novels, memoirs, poetry, and essays, which encouraged and inspired him; or made him laugh and gave him hope. Hand Luggage is his personal selection of these extracts, accompanied by his own commentary and contextual references. It is truly an anthology of triumph over despair, and BayleyÆs wisdom and sense of perspective pervades the collection. An excerpt from Rev. Sydney Smith's prescriptions for the alleviation of low spirits: "Nobody has suffered more from low spirits than I have done--so I feel for you. 1st. Live as well as you dare. 2nd. Go into the shower-bath with a small quantity of water at a temperature low enough to give you you a slight sensation of cold. 3rd. Amusing Books. 4th. Short views of human life--not further than dinner or tea. 5th. Be as busy as you can. 6th. See as much as you can of those friends who respect and like you. 7th. And of those acquaintances who amuse you. 8th. Make no secret of low spirits to your friends., but talk of them freely--they are always worse for dignified concealment. 9th. Attend to the affects tea and coffee produce upon you. 10th. Compare your lot with that of other people. 11th. Don't expect too much from human life--a sorry business at that."As the outstanding literary critic of his generation, Bayley provides special insights into the literatureùBritish, American, and Europeanùwhich means the most to him.