This collection indeed must make any readers devoutly pray that they may escape the attention of the Economist’s obituarists. Their tribute may begin as does that to the tycoon Tiny Rowland: ‘Hunting around for something not too brutal to say about Tiny Rowland now that he is dead, those who knew him remarked on his charm. The English language is helpful with the evasive word.’ Or it may conclude as does that to the fertile philosopher Jacques Derrida: ‘In his final years he became increasingly concerned with religion and some theologians started to show interest in his work. God help them.’ Or they may find themselves described with the same devastating understatement as is Kurt Waldheim: ‘a diplomat with a selective memory’. The wit is wicked, in the best sense of that ambiguous word, but it is never cruel, and always bang on; as its victims, after serving their million-odd years in Purgatory, would ruefully have to agree.
Anyhow, I hope I have made it clear that this volume deserves an honoured place among the select works that discriminating readers keep in the smallest room in the house.
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