(b. 1948–)
English novelist and screenwriter
Ian McEwan
He was the consummate writer, the brilliant friend. In Walter Pater’s famous phrase, he burned “with this hard gem-like flame.” Right to the end.
“Christopher Hitchens: ‘the consummate writer, the brilliant friend,'” Guardian, December 16, 2011.
You can tell a lot from a person’s nails. When a life starts to unravel, they’re among the first to go.
Saturday (Toronto: Random House, 2006), 186.
My ideal state as a reader when I’m reading other people is feeling I’m vaguely wasting my time when I’m not reading that novel.
Interview by Alexandra Alter, The Wall Street Journal, March 25, 2010.