Who Knew Henry James Was Such a Sidesplitter?
The Significant Other and I were able to distract ourselves from the national tension Monday night with a trip to the 92nd Street Y to see Louis Auchincloss and David Lodge read. Bruce Bawer began the evening by paying tribute to Auchincloss’ writing career, which has spanned more than fifty years and more than fifty books, celebrating him as “the most authoritative chronicler and the most trenchant critic” of America’s elite class. We were expecting Auchincloss to read from his latest novel, East Side Story, so the Significant Other was pleasantly surprised when he announced upon arriving at the podium that he would be reading from perhaps his most famous work, The Rector of Justin. Soon she was shooting me dirty looks, trying to get me to stop laughing quite so hard at his uproarious prose; I’d not read this novel before, and it really is one of the funniest passages I’ve heard in ages. I calmed down soon enough, and Auchincloss continued with a portion of the story “Billy and the Ga
