# Gallimaufry (book)

Gallimaufry, A Collection of Essays, Reviews, Bits, is a 2020 collection of 57 essays, book reviews, and shorter pieces all by Joseph Epstein. Essay topics in this collection include authors, literature, biographies, writing, language (its use and misuse), universities, culture, Chicago and humor. The collection is organized into three sections: (i) Essays and Reviews, longer pieces, #1-39 below, (ii) Bits and Pieces, shorter pieces, #40-56 below and (iii) Edward Redux, an essay on his friend and mentor Edward Shils. All of these essays were previously published in journals and anthologies including The Weekly Standard, Commentary (magazine), Claremont Review of Books, Wall Street Journal and others.

## Essays collected

List of essays in Gallimaufry :
| # | Title | Date | Topic(s) |
| 1 | The Bookish Life | 2018 | |
| 2 | Body without Soul | 2020 | book by Bill Bryson |
| 3 | Chicago, Then and Now | 2018 | |
| 4 | Jewish Jokes | 2018 | also Jeremy Dauber's book "Jewish Comedy" |
| 5 | Short Attention Span | 2017 | |
| 6 | Intellectual Marines in Little Magazines | 2008 | journalism, also Partisan Review, Kenyon Review and others |
| 7 | The American Language | 2018 | H. L. Mencken and his book The American Language |
| 8 | University of Chicago Days | 2017 | |
| 9 | Frittering Prizes | 1997 | literature prizes |
| 10 | The Tzaddick of the Intellectuals | 2017 | Leon Wieseltier, Tzadik |
| 11 | The Menace of Political Correctness | 2019 | |
| 12 | Hail, Mommsen | 2018 | Theodore Mommsen |
| 13 | Big Julie | 2019 | Julius Caesar |
| 14 | Our Gladiators | 2018 | Tiger Woods and professional athletes |
| 15 | Diamonds Are Forever | 2016 | baseball |
| 16 | What’s the Story? | 2017 | the case for conservatism |
| 17 | University Presidents | 2019 | |
| 18 | Immaturity on Campus | 2020 | |
| 19 | Heinrich Heine | 2018 | |
| 20 | Joseph Roth | 2018 | |
| 21 | Stefan Zweig | 2019 | |
| 22 | Vasily Grossman | 2011 | |
| 23 | Evelyn Waugh | 2017 | also biography by Philip Eade |
| 24 | P. G. Wodehouse | 2018 | |
| 25 | Tom Wolfe | 2018 | |
| 26 | Susan Sontag, Savant-Idiot | 2019 | Susan Sontag and biography by Benjamin Moser |
| 27 | Lionel Trilling | 2019 | |
| 28 | Proust’s Duchesses | 2018 | biography by Caroline Weber |
| 29 | Denis Diderot | 2019 | also biography by Robert Zaretzsky |
| 30 | Isaiah Berlin | 2016 | collection of his letters by Henry Hardy |
| 31 | Johnson-Boswell | 2019 | book by Leo Damrosch about Samuel Johnson |
| 32 | Stop Your Blubbering | 2019 | book by Jonathan Ree about philosophy |
| 33 | George Gershwin | 2009 | biography by Walter Rimler |
| 34 | Nelson Algren | 2019 | biography by Colin Asher |
| 35 | Essayism | 2018 | book by Brian Dillon |
| 36 | Alcibiades | 2019 | biography by David Stuttard |
| 37 | Big Bill Tilden | 2016 | Bill Tilden and biography by Allen Hornblum |
| 38 | The Semicolon | 2019 | book by Cecilia Watson |
| 39 | The Meritocracy | 2019 | book by Daniel Markovits |
| 40 | Close Shaves | 2018 | shaving |
| 41 | Location, Location, Location | 2018 | Evanston, Illinois neighborhood |
| 42 | Milt Rosenberg | 2018 | radio interview program in Chicago |
| 43 | Only a Hobby | 2018 | Anne Fadiman memoir of Clifton Fadiman and wine |
| 44 | Hello, Dolly | 2018 | pet cat |
| 45 | Dirty Words | 2018 | profanity |
| 46 | See Me Out | 2018 | aging and possessions |
| 47 | Shabby Chic | 2017 | casual attire |
| 48 | Thoughts and Prayers | 2018 | condolences and cliches |
| 49 | Table It | 2018 | word use and changing meanings |
| 50 | Don’t Hide Your Eyes, Weaponize | 2019 | word use and misuse |
| 51 | Does Not Hug | 2017 | not embracing |
| 52 | In Bad Taste or Not, I’ll Keep My Comic Sans | 2019 | font |
| 53 | Yidiosyncrasies | 2018 | quirks |
| 54 | Sinfood | 2017 | |
| 55 | A Nobel Prize for Marriage | 2018 | famous married couples |
| 56 | Hold the Memorial | 2018 | funerals, memorial speeches |
| 57 | Edward Remembered | 2019 | Edward Shils -- professor and sociologist |

## Reception

In The American Spectator Larry Thornberry said "I consider Epstein to be the finest essayist and columnist on active duty today." Thornberry appreciated the wide variety of topics taken up in this collection. He concluded with: "(Epstein's) work is a kind of literary palate cleansing."
At Anecdotal Evidence Patrick Kurp said: "At age eighty-three, Epstein remains our most entertaining, wide-ranging, industrious, learned practitioner of both familiar and critical essays."