The essays are, by and large, as tweedy and self-satisfied as these lines make them sound. There are no wild hairs in them, no sudden deepenings of tone. Nothing is at stake.
Discursive, learned, often funny and always satisfying ... Literary he may be, but Mr. Epstein is also sensible. He never embarks on flights of fancy. His sense of humor lingers on every page ... Beneath the wit and charm of his prose, however, is a layer of pathos.
