Another Life (84 page)

Sometimes, when I’m at home, I am interrupted by one of the many people who need to talk to me or simply want to pass the time of day—the gardener, the plumber, the man from Airborne Express with a package.

Very often, whoever it is will bang on the window of my study to attract my attention and, when I come to the door, say, “Sorry to bother you, but you didn’t look like you were working—you were just sitting there reading.”

But that
is
my work, I want to say. It’s what I
do
, like gardening or plumbing or delivering packages.

And really, is there a better way to make a living?

Money for jam.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I owe this book—and much, much more—to the gentle prodding and enthusiasm of my friends Lynn Nesbit and Morton Janklow, who overcame my doubts and pushed me toward writing it.

I owe a great debt of gratitude to Robert Loomis of Random House, whose wisdom, patience, and unerring eye truly make him “an editor’s editor” (in this case literally as well as metaphorically).

I am deeply grateful to Tina Brown for giving me the opportunity, during her
New Yorker
days, to try my hand at writing profiles, some of which appear in edited and somewhat different form as part of this book.

I am indebted to Eric Rayman of Simon and Schuster for his help with the tangled history of S&S in the Dick Snyder era; to Rebecca Head, who not only lived through many years of this story with me but also remained constantly my dear and indispensable friend and loyal supporter; and to Carol Bowie, who dealt patiently with the many revisions of the manuscript.

Any errors and faults in it are all mine.

For Margaret
—

WHO EMBODIES
“COURAGE, LOVE
AND JOY”

(John Gay)

BY MICHAEL KORDA

MALE CHAUVINISM

POWER!

SUCCESS!

CHARMED LIVES

WORLDLY GOODS

QUEENIE

THE FORTUNE

CURTAIN

THE IMMORTALS

MAN TO MAN

ANOTHER LIFE

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

M
ICHAEL
K
ORDA
is the author of
Male Chauvinism: How It Works; Power! How to Get It, How to Use It; Success!; Charmed Lives
, a memoir;
Man to Man: Surviving Prostate Cancer
; and the novels
Worldly Goods, Queenie, The Fortune, Curtain
, and
The Immortals
.

He was born in London in 1933 and educated in Beverly Hills, New York, and Switzerland. He served in the Royal Air Force and then attended Magdalen College, Oxford; his last year there was interrupted by the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, in which he actively participated. After returning from Budapest, he completed his studies, graduated from Oxford, and moved to the United States. He is the editor in chief of a major publishing house.

He and his wife, Margaret, live in Dutchess County, New York.