Remembering Jonathan Raban by Jon Cook

‘I first encountered Jonathan Raban as an absence, a glamorous rumour.’ I had come to UEA in 1970 as a graduate student. He had left the year before but was far from forgotten. The pubs where he drank were pointed out to me. One of my tutors, Malcolm Bradbury, directed me to an article he had written about the art of criticism as a form of fiction writing. The idea struck me as faintly scandalous but also very exciting … I wanted to read more.’