He seems, even in old age, to have retained the curiosity and energy that drove his younger self.

His writing ranges across forms and his subject matter varies from Picasso to world poverty, from photography to the plight of landless peasantry. From as far back as 1958, though, when he wrote his first novel, A Painter In Our Time, he was dealing with exile and displacement, which, has since become one of the defining political and social issues of our time. In this, he reminds me, of all people, of Bono: the same hunger for stimulation, the same easy grace, the same seemingly undimmable optimism about a world that seems for ever to be testing the limits of that faith.īerger is one of the most influential British intellectuals of the past 50 years, still best known for his seminal book of art criticism, Ways of Seeing, which was published in 1972 and has shaped the thinking of at least two generations of artists and students. He looks a good 15 years younger than his age, which, unbelievably, is 78, and possesses the kind of contagious energy and creative curiosity one usually encounters only in the very young or indefatigably idealistic. He shows me a strange-looking fish, given to him by the local fishmonger, who knows he likes to draw them: 'See, a collaboration that emerged from a conversation.'

It's like a proscenium arch for a dialogue.'įor the first time in a long time I wish I was a smoker, but, fagless, my side of the proscenium arch teetering, I listen, slightly mesmerised, trying to keep up with his free flow of ideas and the oddly illuminating tangents he keeps going off on.

The time of a cigarette is a parenthesis, and if it is shared you are both in that parenthesis. 'A cigarette', he says, inhaling deeply, 'is a breathing space. Here is Berger on smoking, which he does with the fierce enjoyment of a true addict. 'John,' Nella tells me, while we sit down to a lunch he has prepared from ingredients bought that morning at the local market, 'is utterly unique.' Even if you had never read one of his books, you would not not have to spend too long in Berger's presence for this to become apparent.įrom the off, he sweeps you off your feet.

John berger contagious