Evangelist Since, in the nature of things, much of the
comment is bound to be uncomplimentary, we may as well try to get the record straight to be- gin with. Erpf is certainly an evangelising capitalist, a proselytising believer in the bigness of big corporations, and he has no time for the notion that publishing can remain a job for gentle- men and survive, far less compete in the new world markets against the State-subsidised in- dustries of Russia and China. But he is a cul- tivated man, and respects the freedom without which no publisher can publish well. I assume that he is not uninterested in money, having spent most of his life up to his neck in it, but in all my talks with him here or in New York I've never heard him utter in the stock tycoonish manner. He has read the books, seen the plays, watched the movies, heard the music, looked at the paintings, argued the politics, held unortho- dox views about all sorts of things, hearkened to the opposition, and said what he thought. Any port-and-pheasanteer who fancied he could come the old bland condescension over Erpf would have to try another tack. His real obsession is edu- cation, and as well as originating a highly suc- cessful series of academic television programmes he works like a maniac for Columbia, his old university. I suspect that he sees himself yet at the head of an enormous corporation pouring forth instruction and edification in all languages in editions of millions. I see him in one of his aspects as an essentially nineteenth-century figure miraculously brought bang up to date and fully equipped to conduct his own ideological assault on Communist ideology and influence. By any standards he is a formidable package of energy, and I am waiting to see how and when he will be exploding into our midst.
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