Moth and rust will have them – growing old and tidying up

Jeremy Treglown
26 February 2026, The Tablet

MARTIN Florent/Alamy

An author and former editor of the Times Literary Supplement, about to turn 80, frets about accumulated clutter – especially books.

Tidying up seems to have become a main impulse. Everything’s a bit metaphorical, these days, and wishing outlives performance, but what I mean is literally tidying up, as in after a kids’ party.

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