Quite often, in idle moments or upon a sleepless pillow, my mind calls over a silent roll of names of writers whose books I have valued and enjoyed; then I select the author whose ghost, in my mood of that moment, I should most like to summon for a conversation. It is a long list, and a varied company. God forbid that ever they should all appear together; arguments, even to the point of fisticuffs, would be inevitable. The call-over usually includes George Orwell, Doctor Johnson, Evelyn Waugh, James Hogg, Graham Greene, Thomas Hardy, Frederic Manning, Herman Melville, Rudyard Kipling,…