A man and his books …

… Review: The Unexpected Professor - WSJ.com. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

…  there is much to enjoy in Mr. Carey's wry comments on this career, as when the announcement that he is translating Milton's extraordinary Latin treatise on "Christian Doctrine" provokes "anxious letters" suggesting that he might somehow render its more "inflammatory claims"—such as Milton's rejection of the Holy Trinity and the immortality of the soul—"less scandalous." There are also superbly vivid cameos by visiting poets such as the modest Philip Larkin and the flamboyantly eccentric Robert Graves, and an apologetic note on being unable to remember William Empson's doubtless fascinating ideas about Andrew Marvell, only the image of his excellent beard—that "narrow fringe of greyish wisps" growing "only along the angle of his jaw."