Since 1956 when his first novel appeared, Frederic Raphael has produced fourteen novels, two volumes of short stories, a biography of Somerset Maugham, a volume of book reviews and broadcast talks, a collection of essays on the reading of writers, and translations of works by Catullus and Aeschylus. He has also written numerous film and television scripts, several of which have been published in book form. Such productivity has been accompanied by a continuing high standard of literary art that has made his novels among the most well received of the postwar years. His interests are never shallow, his technical ability has continued at the highest level, and his vision of contemporary society is tempered by wit and a wry self-knowledge. As a psychological outsider, Raphael can look on English society with a delight in its nuances of speech and its subtleties of character that are sometimes too familiar...