Description
Book SynopsisBy turns humorous, learned, celebratory, and elegiac, the author displays a keen intelligence and a flair for language that turn bits of common, everyday life into resonant narrative. He maintains a conversational charm while taking the contemporary personal essay to a new level of complexity and candour.
Trade Review“Lopate entertains by blasting write-your-own-vows weddings, camaraderie in bars and the enforced gaiety of dinner parties but expounds more positively on movies, friendship and subletting as a lifestyle. . . . Despite its cranky title, this lively, unpredictable collection of essays is a joy to read, and read again.”—
Publishers Weekly“Subtle, profound (and slightly devilish). Phillip Lopate can express the nuances of the urban mind better than anyone else I know. Phillip Lopate is one of the best essayists in America.”—Noel Perrin
Table of ContentsI.Samson and Delilah and the KidsAgainst Joie de VivreArt of the CreepA Nonsmoker with a SmokerWhat Happened to the Personal EssayII.Never Live Above Your LandlordRevisionist NuptialsAnticipation of
La Notte: The "Heroic" Age of MoviegoingModern FriendshipsA Passion for WaitingIII.Chekhov for ChildrenOn Shaving a BeardOnly Make Believe: Some Observations on Architectural LanguageHouston Hide-and-SeekCarlos: Evening in the City of FriendsIV. Upstairs NeighborsWaiting for the Book to Come OutReflections on SublettingSuicide of a Schoolteacher
