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)1The Bookish Life 20182Body without Soul 2020book by Bill Bryson3Chicago, Then and Now 20184Jewish Jokes 2018also Jeremy Dauber's book "Jewish Comedy"5Short Attention Span 20176Intellectual Marines in Little Magazines 2008journalism, also Partisan Review, Kenyon Review and others7The American Language 2018H. L. Mencken and his book The American Language8University of Chicago Days 20179Frittering Prizes 1997literature prizes10The Tzaddick of the Intellectuals 2017Leon Wieseltier, Tzadik11The Menace of Political Correctness 201912Hail, Mommsen 2018Theodore Mommsen13Big Julie 2019Julius Caesar14Our Gladiators 2018Tiger Woods and professional athletes15Diamonds Are Forever 2016baseball16What’s the Story? 2017the case for conservatism17University Presidents 201918Immaturity on Campus 202019Heinrich Heine 201820Joseph Roth 201821Stefan Zweig 201922Vasily Grossman 201123Evelyn Waugh 2017also biography by Philip Eade24P. G. Wodehouse 201825Tom Wolfe 201826Susan Sontag, Savant-Idiot 2019Susan Sontag and biography by Benjamin Moser27Lionel Trilling 201928Proust’s Duchesses 2018biography by Caroline Weber29Denis Diderot 2019also biography by Robert Zaretzsky30Isaiah Berlin 2016collection of his letters by Henry Hardy31Johnson-Boswell 2019book by Leo Damrosch about Samuel Johnson32Stop Your Blubbering 2019book by Jonathan Ree about philosophy33George Gershwin 2009biography by Walter Rimler34Nelson Algren 2019biography by Colin Asher35Essayism 2018book by Brian Dillon36Alcibiades 2019biography by David Stuttard37Big Bill Tilden 2016Bill Tilden and biography by Allen Hornblum38The Semicolon 2019book by Cecilia Watson39The Meritocracy 2019book by Daniel Markovits40Close Shaves 2018shaving41Location, Location, Location 2018Evanston, Illinois neighborhood42Milt Rosenberg 2018radio interview program in Chicago43Only a Hobby 2018Anne Fadiman memoir of Clifton Fadiman and wine44Hello, Dolly 2018pet cat45Dirty Words 2018profanity46See Me Out 2018aging and possessions47Shabby Chic 2017casual attire48Thoughts and Prayers 2018condolences and cliches49Table It 2018word use and changing meanings50Don’t Hide Your Eyes, Weaponize 2019word use and misuse51Does Not Hug 2017not embracing52In Bad Taste or Not, I’ll Keep My Comic Sans 2019font53Yidiosyncrasies 2018quirks54Sinfood 201755A Nobel Prize for Marriage 2018famous married couples56Hold the Memorial 2018funerals, memorial speeches57Edward Remembered 2019Edward 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." 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."
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."
References