Who is the greatest living essayist writing in English? Joseph Epstein would surely be at the top of anybodyâs list. Epstein is penetrating. He is witty. He has a magic touch with words, that hard to define but immediately recognizable quality called style. Above all, he is impossible to put down.
Joseph Epsteinâs Wind Sprints: Shorter Essays is the third volume of essays from Axios Press following the much acclaimed Essays in Biography , 2012 and A Literary Education and Other Essays , 2014. It contains 142 short essays, literary sprints rather than marathons. Subjects range from domestic life to current social trends to an appraisal of âcontemporary nuttiness.â
After reading Epstein, we see life with a fresh eye. We also see ourselves a little more clearly. This is what Plutarch intended: life teaching by example, but with a wry smile and such a sure hand that we hardly notice the instruction. It is just pure pleasure.
A long-time resident of Chicago, Joseph Epstein has taught English and writing at Northwestern for many years. He is the author of 26 books, many of them collections of essays, and has also written for numerous magazines including the New Yorker , the Atlantic , the Weekly Standard , and Commentary .
Author's previous books:
A Literary Education and Other Essays , 978-1-60419-078-6; Essays in Biography , 978-1-60419-068-7; Gossip: The Untrivial Pursuit , 978-0618721948; The Love Song of A. Jerome Minkoff: And Other Stories , 978-0618721955; Fabulous Small Jews , 978-0618446582; Snobbery: The American Version , 978-0395944172