Nick Humez

I just came upon, and devoured, "The Education of Robert Nifkin." What surprised me is that while virtually all characters in this appear to be fictional, Clifton Fadiman was a very real fellow (indeed, as a lad I read his Mathematical Magpie anthology just a few years after it was published). Of course, fiction often contains cameos of real-world historical figures, but in this case the portrait is less than adulatory. What's up here?

(I see by a site search that my query about Fadiman has already been raised and partially answered — but only partially. Why recast Fadiman in so unprepossessing a light? That seems odd to me.)

P.s. My introduction to your work was via Lizard Music — still one of my all-time favorites several decades and multiple rereadings later.