ABSTRACT
Lewis’ return to the postwar “economic ice-age” after six years of exile was intensely, and perhaps inevitably, disappointing. His long-deserted and now decrepit flat, which he reclaimed after the War, seemed a microcosm of Rotting Hill, a term he adopted from Pound. In 1947, during the severest winter of the century, Lewis found his coal inferior and stove inadequate. Lewis seemed to like the rough and independent Hardiment, who knew the seamier side of life and was familiar with the London Underworld. The last personage to appear in Rotting Hill was Lewis’ oldest companion, Augustus John. In 1946 Lewis became art critic for the Listener, under the inspired regime of Joe Ackerley. He held that influential post, which reinforced his authority and reputation as a theorist and painter, for the next five years and wrote nearly fifty reviews.
