Remembering John Leonard

I will miss John's unrestrained clause-building and conviction-laden prose. He was the sort of lyrical critic whose writing you wanted to read regardless of what he was reviewing -- especially through his litanies of single-sentence list-making. Above all, I looked forward to CBS "Sunday Morning" performances. He never seemed completely comfortable there, and I loved that juxtaposition of tradition-steeped literati and mass media. I admit to hoping that some of his pride in language would rub off, or at least inspire.

One of the most consistent comforts of Salon.com is when a fine writer writes about another fine writer.