Ifs and Buts

Personal Terms 5

Raphael Frederic

June 1978: Frederic Raphael is in a studio for the dubbing of his television play "Something's Wrong", and a routine moment is captured by his wry alertness to vanities and foibles. "Ifs and Buts" continues the sharply stylish extracts from the journal of time spent, in the words of "The Sunday Times", with "one eye on life's greasy pole and the other on the eternal verities". Both, for Raphael, are subjects for curiosity, scepticism and entertainment. "Ifs and Buts" includes encounters with David Garnett and Rebecca West, with their still-vivid memories of H. G. Wells and Lytton Strachey, D. H. Lawrence and Bloomsbury; an account of working with Diana Dors, and of not working with Diane Keaton. Alongside are darker reflections on public and private life, on what it is to be a Jew, on terrorism and the cruelties within relationships.

About the Author

Frederic Raphael was born in Chicago in 1931 and educated at Charterhouse and St John's College, Cambridge. His novels include "The Glittering Prizes" (1976), "A Double Life" (1993), "Coast to Coast" (1998) and "Fame and Fortune" (2007); he has also written short stories and biographies of Somerset Maugham and Byron. Frederic Raphael is a leading screenwriter, whose work includes the Academy Award-winning "Darling" (1965), "Two for the Road" (1967), Far from the "Madding Crowd" (1967), and the screenplay for Stanley Kubrick's last film, "Eyes Wide Shut" (1999). The first volume of "Personal Terms" was published by Carcanet in 2001, with subsequent volumes in 2004, 2006, 2008, 2011 and 2013.

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