The Senior Commoner

Philip Larkin's favourite novel? That might be an exaggeration but it is one that not only exercised a lasting fascination for him but was also an influence on his own novel writing. Larkin famously wrote about it in a 1982 Spectator article (republished in Required Writing ) under the wonderfully apt title ' The Traffic in the Distance' . Despite Larkin's enthusiasm The Senior Commoner , until now, has never been reissued, and although reprinted once, second-hand copies have been fabulously rar