Making the Most of It

'Philosopher, politician, novelist, television interviewer, MP, and music and drama critic, Magee is a man of many parts. But his star role [...] is that of autobiographer.'Francis King, SpectatorIn this final volume of his autobiography Bryan Magee completes his story with his customary candour and clarity. He takes up the thread as an undergraduate in Oxford, where he has his biggest love affair, publishes a volume of poems, takes two degrees, and is elected President of the Oxford Union. Within three years of going down he has lived in Sweden and the United States (countries that he has visited regularly all his life), and has written his second book, Go West, Young Man. At the heart of Making the Most of It is Magee's harrowing account of what he has called 'a fairly disastrous period of my life' - his relationship with Ingrid Söderlund, whom he married after she became pregnant with their daughter Gunnela. The marriage soon ended, but Magee's Swedish family - now not only a daughter, but three grandchildren and four great-grandchildren - have always been central to his life. Writing books has been Magee's chief priority and preoccupation. His major achievement as an author has been to make philosophy more widely accessible, and to produce two outstanding books on Wagner, in addition to his famous book on Schopenhauer. These books have been well reviewed, but their sales were not sufficient to pay for a life in central London, with its superabundance of theatre, music and social life - all leading passions of his. So he also earned money elsewhere. He began by becoming a fully trained brewer with Guinness, but then moved into the making of television programmes, and also produced more and more criticism of theatre and music. He made a name for himself in philosophy, and was a visiting professor at universities in Britain and abroad. For ten years he was a Member of Parliament. All these occupations have added their colour to his life and to this narrative.