WHEREVER YOU GO A celebration of the life and works of novelist, scholar, and critic Thomas Flanagan (1923-2002) was held at the American Irish Historical Society on the occasion of the publication of “There You Are: Writings on Irish & American Literature and History” (New York Review Books) and the republication of “The Year of the French” (New York Review Books). Poet Seamus Heaney wrote a preface to “There You Are,” and Christopher Cahill edited the volume and wrote an introduction to it.

At the event, speakers told stories and anecdotes which captured Flanagan’s panache, wit, and erudition. Mr. Cahill described a dinner with Flanagan, during which he talked about a class he was teaching at SUNY Stony Brook. The author described a student who had given a terrible presentation on the French poet Jules LaForgue. “I’ve never even heard of Jules LaForgue,” Flanagan’s wife, Jean, interjected. “Well,” Flanagan responded, “That was the student’s problem as well.”

Novelist William Kennedy recalled Flanagan’s words upon a visit to Albany: “People interested in Ireland,” he said, “are people interested in language and unhappiness. Ireland, he said, is a country with an addiction to language, which we don’t have in America, and which the English people are losing.”

Mr. Kennedy continued to channel the spirit of his fellow writer: “The Irish are obsessed with history, he said, and if that history and its literature are haunted by a lost cause, this obsession is matched in America in only one place – the South. … The tradition in both Irish and Southern literature is to romanticize and sentimentalize the lost cause, and Tom summed up the law that governs such creations: ‘Weep and the world weeps with you, laugh and you laugh alone.'”

Barbara Epstein read from Flanagan’s essay “Fitzgerald’s ‘Radiant World.” Edward Conlon read from Flanagan’s writings on John O’Hara, which included the following: “Once, at an alumni function, President Kingman Brewster was asked why Yale had never given O’Hara an honorary degree.’ ‘Because he asked for it,’ Brewster said.”

Other readers included Irish novelist and Academy Award nominee Colum McCann, who read from “The Year of the French,” and the retired Rutgers University professor, novelist, and critic Julian Moynahan, who told how quickly word spread regarding the American-born Flanagan’s extraordinary knowledge of everything about Ireland – including its geography, prehistory, and mythology. Mr. Moynahan was at a Dublin pub once, where two locals were arguing about some arcane historical point. They gave up, and Mr. Moynahan was astonished to overhear one say, “There is only person in Dublin who knows the right answer for sure and that is Tom Flanagan.”

In the audience were the president-general of the AIHS, Dr. Kevin Cahill; the Reverend Joseph O’Hare, AIHS’s treasurer-general, Stephen Fearon. Also seen were John Feerick, Brian O’Doherty, and Peter Quinn, all of whom serve on the AIHS executive council.

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’21’ GUN SALUTE Tonight, veteran “21” Club staffer and Oklahoma native Bruce Snyder is celebrating his 35th year of service at the restaurant, and it is hosting a party for him that will raise funds for Oklahoma State University. A proclamation from the governor of his home state will be read.

Mr. Snyder is known for his perfect cravat and for telling the funniest clean jokes in New York.

“Bruce is the keeper of the flame at the mighty, invincible ’21,'” said the chairman of Whitney Radio, William O’Shaughnessy.

Mr. Snyder came to the eatery in January 1969. At the time, he was working for the Marriott Corporation’s in-flight catering service, and was asked to visit the “21” Club to see how the airlines could adapt its management style. The restaurant poached him and he has been there since.

What does the future hold for Mr. Snyder? He and his wife, Marsha, have bought land in Williamsburg, Va., and are building a house there.

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I’LL GET BACK TO YOU How do well-known writers handle the volume of mail they receive? Critic Alfred Kazin once described cards that Edmund Wilson had printed with various boxes that could be checked off: “Edmund Wilson does not read manuscripts for strangers; does not write articles or books to order; does not write forewords or introductions; does not make statements for publicity purposes; does not do any kind of editorial work, judge literary contests, give interviews, broadcast or appear on television; does not answer questionnaires, contribute to or take part in symposiums.”

At a recent talk at the Small Press Center, The New Yorker’s editor, David Remnick, described another standard reply to volumes of mail. Wolcott Gibb’s terse all-purpose response was: “Dear Sir (or Madam): You may be right. Sincerely, Wolcott Gibbs.”

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LINCOLN (CENTER) AND GAY PRIDE The recent book “The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln” by C.A. Tripp has literary sleuths debating if Lincoln was gay, straight, or whatever. Lincoln Center is making news in this area as well. For the first time in its history, Lincoln Center will present an array of events saluting gay pride in late June as part of “Heritage of Pride’s Pride Week.”

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AND THEN Writer Robert Roth hosted a celebration on Sunday for the latest issue of the magazine And Then at Westbeth Community Room in the West Village. Mr. Roth co-founded the magazine in 1987 with Arnold Sachar, Shelley Haven, and Marguerite Bunyan. It comes out about every 18 months and features fiction, poetry, and art, as well as social and political essays.

One piece features a literary version of the children’s game “Telephone.” George, Carol, and Eve Jochnowitz and three others each translated a paragraph that went in turn from English to Chinese to Yiddish to French to Arabic and back to English. As Mr. Roth explained, it ended up “almost identical and totally different.”

Where does the magazine’s title come from? “We had 8 million titles and none of them seemed to work,” Mr. Roth told the Knickerbocker. “I went to a movie with a friend from Japan and I asked her what the name of the movie was and she said, ‘Now and then.'” He liked the phrase “And Then” and it stuck. Years later, Mr. Roth found that the film’s name was not “Now and Then” but, like their magazine, “And Then.”