Gallimaufry: A Collection of Essays, Reviews, Bits
AuthorJoseph Epstein
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
SubjectCollection of essays
PublisherAxios Press
Publication date
October 7, 2020
Media typePrint, hardback
Pages505
ISBN978-1-604-19128-8

Gallimaufry, A Collection of Essays, Reviews, Bits, is a 2020 collection of 57 essays, book reviews, and shorter pieces all by Joseph Epstein. Essay topics in this collection include authors, literature, biographies, writing, language (its use and misuse), universities, culture, Chicago and humor. The collection is organized into three sections: (i) Essays and Reviews, longer pieces, #1-39 below, (ii) Bits and Pieces, shorter pieces, #40-56 below and (iii) Edward Redux, an essay on his friend and mentor Edward Shils. All of these essays were previously published in journals and anthologies including The Weekly Standard, Commentary (magazine), Claremont Review of Books, Wall Street Journal and others.

Essays collected

List of essays in Gallimaufry
# Title Date Topic(s)
1 The Bookish Life 2018
2 Body without Soul 2020 book by Bill Bryson
3 Chicago, Then and Now 2018
4 Jewish Jokes 2018 also Jeremy Dauber's book "Jewish Comedy"
5 Short Attention Span 2017
6 Intellectual Marines in Little Magazines 2008 journalism, also Partisan Review, Kenyon Review and others
7 The American Language 2018 H.L. Mencken and his book The American Language
8 University of Chicago Days 2017
9 Frittering Prizes 1997 literature prizes
10 The Tzaddick of the Intellectuals 2017 Leon Wieseltier, Tzadik
11 The Menace of Political Correctness 2019
12 Hail, Mommsen 2018 Theodore Mommsen
13 Big Julie 2019 Julius Caesar
14 Our Gladiators 2018 Tiger Woods and professional athletes
15 Diamonds Are Forever 2016 baseball
16 What’s the Story? 2017 the case for conservatism
17 University Presidents 2019
18 Immaturity on Campus 2020
19 Heinrich Heine 2018
20 Joseph Roth 2018
21 Stefan Zweig 2019
22 Vasily Grossman 2011
23 Evelyn Waugh 2017 also biography by Philip Eade
24 P. G. Wodehouse 2018
25 Tom Wolfe 2018
26 Susan Sontag, Savant-Idiot 2019 Susan Sontag and biography by Benjamin Moser
27 Lionel Trilling 2019
28 Proust’s Duchesses 2018 biography by Caroline Weber
29 Denis Diderot 2019 also biography by Robert Zaretzsky
30 Isaiah Berlin 2016 collection of his letters by Henry Hardy
31 Johnson-Boswell 2019 book by Leo Damrosch about Samuel Johnson
32 Stop Your Blubbering 2019 book by Jonathan Ree about philosophy
33 George Gershwin 2009 biography by Walter Rimler
34 Nelson Algren 2019 biography by Colin Asher
35 Essayism 2018 book by Brian Dillon
36 Alcibiades 2019 biography by David Stuttard
37 Big Bill Tilden 2016 Bill Tilden and biography by Allen Hornblum
38 The Semicolon 2019 book by Cecilia Watson
39 The Meritocracy 2019 book by Daniel Markovits
40 Close Shaves 2018 shaving
41 Location, Location, Location 2018 Evanston, Illinois neighborhood
42 Milt Rosenberg 2018 radio interview program in Chicago
43 Only a Hobby 2018 Anne Fadiman memoir of Clifton Fadiman and wine
44 Hello, Dolly 2018 pet cat
45 Dirty Words 2018 profanity
46 See Me Out 2018 aging and possessions
47 Shabby Chic 2017 casual attire
48 Thoughts and Prayers 2018 condolences and cliches
49 Table It 2018 word use and changing meanings
50 Don’t Hide Your Eyes, Weaponize 2019 word use and misuse
51 Does Not Hug 2017 not embracing
52 In Bad Taste or Not, I’ll Keep My Comic Sans 2019 font
53 Yidiosyncrasies 2018 quirks
54 Sinfood 2017
55 A Nobel Prize for Marriage 2018 famous married couples
56 Hold the Memorial 2018 funerals, memorial speeches
57 Edward Remembered 2019 Edward Shils -- professor and sociologist

Reception

In The American Spectator Larry Thornberry said "I consider Epstein to be the finest essayist and columnist on active duty today."[1] Thornberry appreciated the wide variety of topics taken up in this collection. He concluded with: "(Epstein's) work is a kind of literary palate cleansing."[1]

At Anecdotal Evidence Patrick Kurp said: "At age eighty-three, Epstein remains our most entertaining, wide-ranging, industrious, learned practitioner of both familiar and critical essays."[2]

References

  1. 1 2 Thornberry, Larry (October 13, 2020). "The Best Way to Take a Break From the Current Chaos". The American Spectator. Retrieved January 16, 2023.
  2. Kurp, Patrick (August 26, 2020). "A Chance of Becoming a Bit Smarter". Anecdotal Evidence. Retrieved January 16, 2023.
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