Forty years ago, when he was 28, Ian McEwan published a story about an ape who was shacked up with a novelist. He’s also helpless and full of dread, as he knows that his mother and his uncle, who are lovers, plan to kill his father. I find myself sometimes torn, because I know that pessimism is the core of intellectual life. It’s the badge: you have nowhere else to goHis point of view is more nuanced, but typically expressed without undue caution. “Just to get my own angle on this clear, bringing people into the world is our only hope!”

Source: National Post September 14, 2016 19:30 UTC