A Line Out For a Walk [Paperback]

Joesph Epstein (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1991

Paul Klee's words on his art, "I take a line out for a walk", describe precisely what the author of these essays does - he takes out such "lines" as gossip, gambling, height (or the lack of it), hats, smoking, fame or compulsive reading and "walks them" in his own discursive style.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The "lines" that Epstein ( The Middle of My Tether ) here takes out for walks are his subjects, and where they will lead him he is "unlikely to know in advance." Generally they include topics one doesn't encounter on the evening news, such as the etiquette of hats, the stomach needed for bigtime gambling and the author's years at the intensely intellectual University of Chicago--where the average undergraduate struck him as being "someone from New York who had been reading the New Republic from the age of 11 and decided against going to an Ivy League school because they were all deemed too lightweight." His essays vary in complexity of structure, but all move from solitary observation to a larger meditation on life. To reveal more would erode the pleasure of reading Epstein, a writer at the top of his powers in these serious, funny, pleasantly unpredictable musings.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

One of a handful of living Americans who have mastered the "familiar" essay, Epstein never fails to entertain as well as soothingly educate. His fine eye and sure hand roam widely, searching for subjects. Whether he happens to land in the middle of a political debate or just gives us a meditation on the fascinations of gambling, Epstein reveals a decisive wit, linguistic dexterity, and down-home, front-porch common sense. Readers need not agree with his carefully reasoned observations to enjoy his well-polished style. Epstein, editor of The American Scholar , has published two other volumes of excellent familiar essays ( The Middle of My Tether: Familiar Essays , Norton, 1983; Partial Payments: Essays Arising from the Pleasures of Reading , LJ 12/1/88) as well as two collections of literary essays ( Plausible Prejudices: Essays on American Writing , LJ 2/1/85; Partial Payments: Essays on Writers & Their Lives , Norton, 1990). A book of his short stories will appear in 1991. Recommended.
- Vincent D. Balitas, Allentown Coll., Center Valley, Pa.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (January 1, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393308545
• ISBN-13: 978-0393308549
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,091,626 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

JOSEPH EPSTEIN is the author of the best-selling Snobbery and of Friendship, as well as the short story collections The Goldin Boys and Fabulous Small Jews, among other books, and was formerly editor of the American Scholar. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's Magazine, the Atlantic Monthly, and other magazines.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Familiar Essay's Modern Master, June 19, 2000

By 

Good Bye - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Line Out For a Walk (Paperback)

Joseph Epstein is the type of writer whose works everyone should read but, sadly, too few do. He is both erudite and witty while retaining the nonchalance of "just one of the guys from the neighborhood." His writing is always insightful and always enjoyable. To those who keep a notepad and pencil handy while reading to jot down a tidbit of obscure information or a reference to a book to be explored at a later date, Mr. Epstein's books will necessitate the presence of a good pencil sharpener as well. Sadly, most of his books, of which there have been many, are now out of print. Such is the fate of interesting, witty, and sublime writers in our questionably literate time. Thankfully, A Line Out For A Walk remains available.

Comprising a series of essays, most of which originally published under his pen name "Aristides" while serving his remarkable tenure as editor of that once great journal of American letter, The American Scholar, A Line Out For A Walk is a remarkable book. In it can be found something to please the tastes of most everyone; reminiscences of old friends (some notable, some known only to a few), literary investigations, histories, ponderings, puns, observations, laments, biographical sketches, and reflections - all are offered in the straightforward yet eloquent style that has become Mr. Epstein's trademark. Should anyone finish a reading of this book and not felt themselves to have spent the time wisely and profitably, they should abandon reading altogether as they are obviously missing the point of it.

Mr. Epstein's essays are not the thin, watery things we so commonly see today, containing only a few personal, usually embarrassing remembrances of the author' life. They are full of life, being composed both the high and the low, the intellectual and the mundane. In one essay alone you are likely to find some of the life of Henry James, a note on the achievements of Jewish baseball players, an observation on the nature of indoor cats, three snippets from Lady Montagu's travel journals, a tale of life in the Chicago of the 50's, a little known personal habit of Woodrow Wilson, the real meaning behind one of Gainsborough's paintings, and a brief life of a little known but highly respected journalist from the 1890's. These are not things expected in a modern essayist; these are the qualities of products from the golden years of the essay. Indeed, Mr. Epstein should be, and no doubt someday will be, ranked among the likes of Lamb, Hazlitt, and Leibling. After all to which he has been subjected in his lifetime, it is the least that can be done to honor his outstanding work.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best, January 28, 2006

By 

Shalom Freedman "Shalom Freedman" (Jerusalem,Israel) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: A Line Out For a Walk (Paperback)

In the past few years I have read a large number of the essays of Joseph Epstein. I find that he is one of the best essayists now writing. He writes with a real grasp of American everyday realities, He also has a real feeling for Literature. But what most impresses in his work is his mastery of Ideas , and his ability to clarify his experience conceptually.

Reading him is a very special kind of education, enjoyable and interesting.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pure reading pleasure, November 3, 2002

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Line Out For a Walk (Paperback)

As a wordsmith, Epstein has few peers. These essays are to be luxuriated in, read and re-read. Pure pleasure.