about
Fission
?’
‘Not in detail. He said Erry
had an interest – that to some extent the magazine would propagate his ideas.’
‘Unfortunately that will be
possible only in retrospect, but the fact Alf is no longer with us does not
mean the paper will not be launched. In fact it will be carried forward much as
he would have wished, subject to certain modifications. Kenneth Widmerpool is
interested in it now. He wants an organ for his own views. There is another
potential backer keen on the more literary, less political side. We have no
objection to that. We think the magazine should be open to all opinion to be
looked upon as progressive, a rather broader basis than Alf envisaged might be
advantageous.’
‘Why not?’
‘Bagshaw was in Alf’s eyes
editor-designate. He has had a good deal of experience, even if not of actually
running a magazine. I think he should make a tolerable job of it. Howard does
not altogether approve of his attitude in certain political directions, but
then Howard and Alf did not always see eye to eye.’
I could not quite understand
why I was being told all this. Quiggin’s tone suggested he was leading up to
some overture.
‘There will be too much for
Bagshaw to keep an eye on with books coming in for review. We’d
have liked Bernard Shernmaker to do that, but everyone’s after him. Then we
tried L. O. Salvidge. He’d been snapped up too. Bagshaw suggested you might
like to take the job on.’
The current financial situation
was not such as to justify turning down out of hand an offer of this sort.
Researches at the University would be at an end in a week or two. I made
enquiries about hours of work and emoluments. Quiggin mentioned a sum not
startling in its generosity, none the less acceptable, bearing in mind that one
might ask for a rise later. The duties he outlined could be fitted into
existing routines.
‘It would be an advantage
having you about the place as a means of keeping in touch with Alf’s
family. Also you’ve known Kenneth Widmerpool a long time, he tells me. He’s
going to advise the firm on the business side. The magazine and the publishing
house are to be kept quite separate. He will contribute to
Fission
on political and economic subjects.’
‘Do Widmerpool’s political
views resemble Erry’s?’
‘They have a certain amount in
common. What’s more important is that Widmerpool is not only an MP, therefore a
man who can to some extent convert ideas into action – but also an MP
untarnished by years of back-benching, with all the intellectual weariness that
is apt to bring – I say, look what that girl’s doing now.’
On the other side of the room
Widmerpool had been talking for some little time to Roddy Cutts. The two had
gravitated together in response to that law of nature which rules that the
whole confraternity of politicians prefers to operate within the closed circle
of its own initiates, rather than waste time with outsiders; differences of
party or opinion having little or no bearing on this preference. Paired off
from the rest of the mourners, speaking rather louder than the hushed tones to
some extent renewed in the house after seeming befitted to the neighbourhood of
the church, they were animatedly arguing the question of interest rates in
relation to hire-purchase; a subject, if only in a roundabout way, certainly
reconcilable to Erridge’s memory. Widmerpool was apparently giving some sort of
an outline of the Government’s policy. In this he was interrupted by Pamela.
For reasons of her own she must have decided to break up this tête-à-tête.
Throwing down her book, which, having freed herself from Norah, she had been
latterly reading undisturbed, she advanced from behind towards her husband and
Roddy Cutts.
‘People refer to the suppressed
inflationary potential of our present economic situation,’ Widmerpool was
saying. ‘I have, as it happens, my own private panacea
Fission
?’
‘Not in detail. He said Erry
had an interest – that to some extent the magazine would propagate his ideas.’
‘Unfortunately that will be
possible only in retrospect, but the fact Alf is no longer with us does not
mean the paper will not be launched. In fact it will be carried forward much as
he would have wished, subject to certain modifications. Kenneth Widmerpool is
interested in it now. He wants an organ for his own views. There is another
potential backer keen on the more literary, less political side. We have no
objection to that. We think the magazine should be open to all opinion to be
looked upon as progressive, a rather broader basis than Alf envisaged might be
advantageous.’
‘Why not?’
‘Bagshaw was in Alf’s eyes
editor-designate. He has had a good deal of experience, even if not of actually
running a magazine. I think he should make a tolerable job of it. Howard does
not altogether approve of his attitude in certain political directions, but
then Howard and Alf did not always see eye to eye.’
I could not quite understand
why I was being told all this. Quiggin’s tone suggested he was leading up to
some overture.
‘There will be too much for
Bagshaw to keep an eye on with books coming in for review. We’d
have liked Bernard Shernmaker to do that, but everyone’s after him. Then we
tried L. O. Salvidge. He’d been snapped up too. Bagshaw suggested you might
like to take the job on.’
The current financial situation
was not such as to justify turning down out of hand an offer of this sort.
Researches at the University would be at an end in a week or two. I made
enquiries about hours of work and emoluments. Quiggin mentioned a sum not
startling in its generosity, none the less acceptable, bearing in mind that one
might ask for a rise later. The duties he outlined could be fitted into
existing routines.
‘It would be an advantage
having you about the place as a means of keeping in touch with Alf’s
family. Also you’ve known Kenneth Widmerpool a long time, he tells me. He’s
going to advise the firm on the business side. The magazine and the publishing
house are to be kept quite separate. He will contribute to
Fission
on political and economic subjects.’
‘Do Widmerpool’s political
views resemble Erry’s?’
‘They have a certain amount in
common. What’s more important is that Widmerpool is not only an MP, therefore a
man who can to some extent convert ideas into action – but also an MP
untarnished by years of back-benching, with all the intellectual weariness that
is apt to bring – I say, look what that girl’s doing now.’
On the other side of the room
Widmerpool had been talking for some little time to Roddy Cutts. The two had
gravitated together in response to that law of nature which rules that the
whole confraternity of politicians prefers to operate within the closed circle
of its own initiates, rather than waste time with outsiders; differences of
party or opinion having little or no bearing on this preference. Paired off
from the rest of the mourners, speaking rather louder than the hushed tones to
some extent renewed in the house after seeming befitted to the neighbourhood of
the church, they were animatedly arguing the question of interest rates in
relation to hire-purchase; a subject, if only in a roundabout way, certainly
reconcilable to Erridge’s memory. Widmerpool was apparently giving some sort of
an outline of the Government’s policy. In this he was interrupted by Pamela.
For reasons of her own she must have decided to break up this tête-à-tête.
Throwing down her book, which, having freed herself from Norah, she had been
latterly reading undisturbed, she advanced from behind towards her husband and
Roddy Cutts.
‘People refer to the suppressed
inflationary potential of our present economic situation,’ Widmerpool was
saying. ‘I have, as it happens, my own private panacea
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