James Wood's "Diary"

James Wood (Photo by David Levenson)

One word redeems James Wood’s otherwise infernally class-conscious “Diary” (London Review of Books, July 4, 2019): contaminated. Wood writes, 

Over the years, I’ve resisted writing about Eton, for the usual reasons but mainly because I dislike a retrospect that might sound like some nasty combination of complaint, boast and self-pity. All three modes are unwarranted, as far as I’m concerned. I have largely happy memories of the school and eventually flourished there much as my socially avaricious mum hoped I would. But complaint doesn’t have to be merely self-interested. In 1984 I couldn’t have predicted that politics in the early 21st century would be so contaminated by my schoolfellows. 

That “contaminated” shows what Wood actually thinks of his fellow snobs. But I wish his condemnation was stronger. A school that teaches its students that they're marked by an “effortless superiority” needs a good tuning.