Cambridge academics spend a lot of time worrying about how to persuade taxpayers to keep them in ivory towers. Perhaps it’s for that reason that, twice a year, Cambridge Wordfest invites the reading public into the lecture theatre to be reminded how pleasant it is to chat about books.
David Baddiel was there this weekend to discuss his latest novel. The Death of Eli Gold is about a heroically macho American novelist who finds that death is no respecter even of sexual reputations. Baddiel spoke about his desire to interrogate the fate of the Great Man in the modern world. Gold was one of these men. His artistic vocation was a licence to live to excess, with wives and children cast aside when inconvenient; any resemblance to Norman Mailer or Saul Bellow is entirely deliberate. But what, Baddiel asked, happens now that Great Men can no longer use their genius as an excuse to treat their wives and children badly? If we no longer tolerate the errant Great Man, then what can we Lesser Men look up to? What is masculinity now?
Baddiel spoke of the failings of men (real and imagined) like Eli Gold.
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in