And Even Now

About the book

Beerbohm gathers essays on subjects including old possessions, the difficulty of wording a message, hosts and guests, servants, walking, literary lives, and the awkwardness of speaking another language. A small practical observation often develops into a carefully qualified speculation, with the narrator's own preferences becoming part of the comedy. No. 2, The Pines gives literary recollection a particular setting, while pieces such as Going Out for a Walk resist assumptions that more strenuous writers might accept without question. The essays preserve their dates, acknowledging the occasions from which they arose. Their pleasure depends on a voice willing to follow a modest subject far enough to discover its unexpected complications, without pretending that a personal aversion or fancy has become a universal law.

• Social observation
• Literary memory
• Comic self-examination

Why read it

For a poised comic voice that discovers surprising consequences in the small inconveniences and rituals of social life.

Essay collection · English text