This elusive, wilful, chameleon quality also describes his screen presence.
But the narrative – part truth, part wilful misunderstanding – was deeply flawed.
The wilful hardening of hearts – a character making himself impervious to reason or affection, and so less human than he actually is – interests Shakespeare.
Mr Hall is particularly impressive, inhabiting his odd character with a wilful guilelessness.This talent for finding light in life's shadows first earned Mr Eno serious attention in 2005, with the New York debut of "Thom Pain (based on nothing)".
Eccentric, brilliant, wilful, unstable, depressive, erratic, witty, morose.
Quinn's characters, particularly the vivid, maddening, wilful, foul-mouthed and frequently funny Freya, will continue to live on long after reaching the final line of this wonderful novel.
The central character, Eric Packer, brings to mind two wilful financial anti-heroes, Sherman McCoy of Bonfire of the Vanities and Gordon Gekko of Wall Street.
It is not exactly ideal table-talk between semi-strangers, and therefore remains unsaid, but what is most interesting about it is the elision – the wilful confusion, you might say – between "writer" and "character".
Other characters were self-obsessed (the racing driver) or wilful and on the margins of society.
The Wilde that emerges is a multifaceted character: one who can either be admired for his uncompromising moral integrity, or pitied for his wilful capacity for self-destruction.
