What a pleasure. That rare feeling when you sink into something knowing you'll be entertained, learn a bit, and are in safe hands. There are nineteen essays here, all of which were journal-published originally. They read almost like book reviews, but in a sense are review-extensions, where the advent of his reading a particular title brings up a discussion about something broader. His allowing of this opening out also allows philosophically inspired wit to creep in, and the nature and foibles of humanity and its pretensions, elisions and perhaps lazy misapprehensions to be discussed. His is an acerbic tongue. The subjects range between the long ago of Swift, Sterne and Johnson to the recency of Marie Bashkirtseff. His treatments cover not only literary critical interpretation, but also deep forays into previous editions, consequences of various edits, celebration and deprecation of the vices of both authors, compilers and editors, and, subsequently, all the outflow of what any given point might mean as applied to our societal norms and prejudices. He's great company.
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