One-minute review: A series of musings about life. Things he would like to write about but doesn’t because they are “beyond my reach.” He notes the commonplace objects that are not commonplace, “the corner of a road, a heap of stones, an old gate.” He tries to think of the joys of life, but can’t find any: “… there wasn’t one of them for which I seemed to care a button—not wine, nor fame, nor friendship, nor eating, nor making love, nor the consciousness of virtue.” Then he thinks of reading—“the nice and subtle happiness of reading. This was enough, this joy not dulled by age…this selfish, serene, life-long intoxication.” An author in search of his thoughts.
American Essays. Ed. Charles B. Shaw. A Pelican
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