Grumpy Old Bookman
A lesser-known On Writing inspires Michael Allen
It was in 1955 (or thereabouts) that I first began to read books about the art and craft of writing. That being the case, I was slightly surprised recently to come across one such book which I can’t remember having seen before: it’s called On Writing, it’s by George V Higgins, and it was first published in 1990 in New York.
George V Higgins, you say? Never heard of him. Ah, but that’s because you’re so young.
Briefly, Higgins was a Boston Massachusetts man. Born in 1939, he died young, just before his sixtieth birthday, and he is best remembered as a top-rank crime writer. However, he had several other careers, all of them successful. Early in life he wrote for some leading newspapers, including the Boston Globe and the Wall Street Journal. Then he switched to the law, and soon rose to be Assistant US Attorney for Massachusetts; in which capacity he was heavily involved in the fight against organised crime.