Books, Inq. — The Epilogue

… ‘Justly Responsive’  — What made Denis Donoghue a great critic. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

 He could be funny, as in his remembrance of a poetry reading given by William Empson and interrupted by the poet’s wife: “After the second poem, as I remember, Mrs. Empson called out: ‘William, you’re very boring.’ He let that pass. But after the next poem she called out more formally: ‘William, you are very boring.’ Empson stopped, looked at the audience, and said: ‘My wife tells me I am very boring.’”