27 JULY 1985, page 30

A New Perspective

Short-sighted in youth, Long-sighted in age, The eyes he once screwed up to view the mountains He now screws up to focus on the page: Those far-off sights now beautifully clear;......

Sadness And Loss At The End Of The Road

Andrew Brown MEMORY BABE by Gerald Nicosia Viking, £10.95 J ack Kerouac's life though full of inci- dent and even marriages has a curiously dead, uneventful quality. He did a......

How Pleasant To Meet Mr Young

Francis King SLOW BOATS HOME by Gavin Young Hutchinson, 02.95 aft, S ince it took Gavin Young a whole year to ocean-hop and island-hop from Hong Kong ever westwards to an......