For the first half of It Gets Worse, Nicholas Lezard’s second collection of humorous autobiographical columns from the New Statesman, disgruntled readers may be forgiven for pointing out that things have not got worse at all. We find Lezard happily installed in his rickety home, the so-called Hovel, and in a blissful relationship with a younger woman, the Beloved. Money is, of course, a perennial problem, and I doubt any English writer has written so wittily and recognisably about the absence of readies since Lezard’s hero Orwell. But his adored children are steadfast, as are his friends – some of them famous – and there are occasional perks to his dissolute life, such as trips to Lord’s, courtesy of his membership of the MCC, and evenings at the Royal Ballet. It all begins to seem quite fun.
So why the title? Partly, as Lezard assures us in a rueful, funny introduction, because his life did indeed worsen dramatically after this collection of pieces was written (around 2012-14), and because, even by the end here, things have gone awry. He talks about how we are subject to the Boethian wheel of fate, which “can have you the toppermost of the poppermost at one moment, and down among the garbage the next”. The rubbish here is both literal – the Hovel has not earned its name because of its cleanly mien – and metaphorical. Our current prime minister and Nigel Farage are but two of Lezard’s targets, written about with a righteous fury that illuminates these pages.
This is a hugely entertaining book, even if its production occasionally seems a bit sloppy (a further edit would have removed the URLs that adorn some pieces, a hangover of their original appearance in the magazine). Lezard is, as anyone who has enjoyed his writing as a critic knows, a perceptive chronicler of human strengths and weakness, and so he is with himself. As with his first collection, Bitter Experience Has Taught Me, he is happy to portray himself as an ageing Withnailian flâneur, confused, incapable (with or without booze) and indignant while faced with the unfairness and cruelty of the modern world.
His compassionate decency shines through – as he writes, “other people’s troubles start bothering you almost as much as your own” – and buying this for a Christmas present is undoubtedly the most joyful act of charity that you can perform this year.
• It Gets Worse by Nicholas Lezard is published by Salt (£9.99). To order a copy go to guardianbookshop.com. Free UK p&p over £15
