James Booth - Philip Larkin: Life, Art and Love

My thanks are due to Larkins literary executors, Sir Andrew Motion and Anthony Thwaite, for their ready cooperation and help. I am also grateful to Jeremy Crow at the Society of Authors, administrator of Larkins estate, for his unfailing assistance.

Any biography of Larkin must acknowledge a huge debt to Andrew Motions Philip Larkin: A Writers Life (1993). Many times I have found myself strategizing how best to deploy some primary material, only to find that Motion has already anticipated what I was intending to say. There has, however, been an accumulation of documentation in the two decades since the publication of his biography. Also I have, where possible, returned to original sources, both human and written. My interpretation of Larkins character differs from Motions in some crucial respects.

Though I was for seventeen years a colleague of Larkin in the University of Hull, our encounters were limited to formal contexts. He avoided the English Department, and never gave readings. However, since his death I have come to know several of those who were closest to him personally or professionally, and have interviewed others. I owe particular debts to Anthony and Ann Thwaite, the late Ruth Siverns (Bowman), the late Monica Jones, the late Judy Egerton, Winifred Dawson (Arnott), Mary Judd (Wrench), Professor Eddie Dawes, the late Jean Hartley, the late Maeve Brennan, the late Father Anthony Storey, Betty Mackereth, John White, Alan Marshall, Bridget Mason (Egerton) and Angela Leighton, all of whom have shared with me their insights into the Larkin they knew. Anthony and Ann Thwaite gave invaluable advice throughout, and Ruth Siverns, Judy Egerton, Winifred Dawson, Jean Hartley, Betty Mackereth, Rosemary Parry and John White read and commented on particular chapters.

A great deal of the new material in this book has been gathered as a result of the activities of the Philip Larkin Society, founded in Hull in 1995. I am grateful for the scholarly work of all those who have attended the three Hull international conferences which took place under the Societys aegis in 1997, 2002 and 2007, and others who have given lectures and talks to the Society, in particular Barbara Everett, John Carey, Archie Burnett, Janice Rossen, Judith Priestman, Edna Longley, Raphal Ingelbien, Istvn Rcz, Graham Chesters, John Osborne and Jim Orwin. The help of Ivor Maw and Philip Pullen, who are currently cataloguing the Larkin family letters in the University of Hull archive, has been invaluable.

For twelve of the seventeen years since the Societys foundation I have been editor or co-editor (with Janet Brennan) of the Societys journal, About Larkin , which has published much new documentary information and contextual research. I owe an immense debt to the officers and members of the Society. Significant new biographical perspectives have been opened up by Susannah Tarbush, Geoff Weston and particularly Don Lee, who with his partner Gloria Gaffney has been indefatigable in tracking the geography and associations of Larkins early life. When, after the death of Monica Jones in 2001, the Society bought the non-literary effects left in 105 Newland Park, a team consisting of Eddie Dawes, the Societys Chairman, Maeve Brennan, Carole Collinson and David Pattison helped to catalogue Larkins pictures, ornaments, cameras, spectacles, hearing aids, ties, etc., all still in place sixteen years after his death.

Archie Burnett generously allowed me pre-publication access to the Commentary in his edition of The Complete Poems (2012). I am also grateful to the many friends and colleagues who have read all or part of my draft and made suggestions for improvement. Anthony Thwaite, Ann Thwaite and Don Lee have read the entire text, while Graham Chesters, Christopher Reid, Angela Leighton, Trevor Tolley, Richard Palmer, Geoff Weston, Terry Kelly, Janet Brennan, Tom McAlindon, Jim Orwin, Trevor Jarvis, Elena Miraglia, Birte Wiemann, Carol Rumens, Suzanne Uniacke, Martin Goodman, Sheila Jones, Bruce Woodcock and Philip Weaver have made suggestions in relation to particular chapters. Remaining mistakes of fact or wrong interpretations are my own.

My thanks are due also to Judy Burg (Hull University Archivist) and the staff of the Brynmor Jones Library, Hull, and the History Centre, Hull, which now houses the Universitys Larkin archive, and also most of the Larkin Society collection.

I must also thank my wife, Jennifer, and daughters, Anne and Eleanor, for their understanding and forbearance during the writing of this book.

The author and publishers acknowledge the following permissions to reprint copyright material:

The Society of Authors as the Literary Representative of the Estate of Philip Larkin: Previously unpublished Philip Larkin material, copyright 2014 the Estate of Philip Larkin; photographs taken by Larkin and facsimiles of Larkins writing, copyright 2014 the Estate of Philip Larkin. Other copyright holders of photographs are acknowledged alongside the relevant illustrations.

Rosemary Parry: Excerpts from Sydney Larkins diaries and photographs taken by Sydney Larkin, copyright 2014.

Faber and Faber Limited: Extracts from Complete Poems by Philip Larkin, copyright 2012 the Estate of Philip Larkin; extracts from Selected Letters of Philip Larkin, 19401985 , copyright 1992 the Estate of Philip Larkin, Introduction copyright 1992 by Anthony Thwaite; extracts from Required Writing by Philip Larkin, copyright 1983 the Estate of Philip Larkin; extracts from All What Jazz by Philip Larkin, copyright 1970, 1985 Philip Larkin; extracts from Jill , copyright 1946 Philip Larkin; extracts from A Girl in Winter , copyright 1947 Philip Larkin; extracts from Further Requirements by Philip Larkin, copyright 2001, 2002 the Estate of Philip Larkin, Introduction and editorial matter copyright Anthony Thwaite 2001; extracts from Trouble at Willow Gables and Other Fictions by Philip Larkin, copyright 2002 the Estate of Philip Larkin, Introduction and editorial matter copyright James Booth 2002; extracts from Letters to Monica by Philip Larkin, copyright 2010 the Estate of Philip Larkin, Introduction and editorial matter copyright Anthony Thwaite.

Oxford University Press: Extracts from Larkins introduction to The Oxford Book of Twentieth Century English Verse: Chosen by Philip Larkin , copyright 1973.

Faber and Faber Limited: Extracts from The English Auden , ed. Edward Mendelson, copyright 1986 the Estate of W. H. Auden; extracts from Ted Hughes Collected Poems , ed. Paul Keegan, copyright 2003 the Estate of Ted Hughes; extracts from Letters of Ted Hughes , Introduction and selection by Christopher Reid, letters copyright 2007 the Estate of Ted Hughes.

Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Inc.: Extracts from Complete Poems by Philip Larkin, copyright 2012 the Estate of Philip Larkin; extracts from Selected Letters of Philip Larkin, 19401985 , copyright 1992 the Estate of Philip Larkin, Introduction copyright 1992 by Anthony Thwaite; extracts from Required Writing by Philip Larkin, copyright 1983 the Estate of Philip Larkin; extracts from All What Jazz by Philip Larkin, copyright 1970, 1985 Philip Larkin.

The Overlook Press, Peter Mayer Publishers, Inc. Woodstock, NY: Extracts from Jill , copyright 1946, 1976 by Philip Larkin, published in 1985 by the Overlook Press; extracts from A Girl in Winter by Philip Larkin, copyright 1976 by Philip Larkin, published in 1985 by The Overlook Press.

HarperCollins Publishers: Extracts from The Letters of Kingsley Amis , ed. Zachary Leader, copyright 2000 the Estate of Kingsley Amis.

Every effort has been made to trace all copyright holders, but if any have been overlooked, the publishers will be pleased to make the necessary arrangements at the earliest opportunity.

Quotations are from The Complete Poems (2012). The Collected Poems (1988), though less comprehensive, has the great advantage, for those wishing to follow Larkins biography, of printing the poems in the order in which they were written. Since individual works are easily located in these volumes I have omitted page references.