From the Uncollected Edmund Wilson by: Edmund Wilson /Janet Groth (Editor), David Castronovo (Contributor)
Hardcover. Athens OH, Ohio University Press, 2nd pr., 1996, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 373 pages. Editors Groth and Castronovo have chosen from Wilson's previously uncollected works to present materials illuminating his growth as a literary critic and writer. The works are arranged chronologically, beginning with essays published in the High School Record in 1911 proceeding to works penned for the Nation, New Republic, and the New Yorker in the Thirties, Forties, and Fifties, and winding up with an acceptance speech delivered by Wilson in 1966. Among the subjects of the essays are underrated pleasures (including Edith Wharton, satin breeches, and the human body), overrated experiences (such as afternoon tea, youth, summer, and weddings), and literary critiques, both admiring and scathing. Many libraries already own the source periodicals, but this collection includes a few items that would be difficult to obtain.