The Angel and the Author, and Others

The book opens with a wonderfully absurd premise: Jerome dreams he flies up to heaven in his nightshirt, only to discover that his good deeds have been cataloged as sins. The Recording Angel has made an alphabetical error, and suddenly every act of charity looks suspicious. Was that donation genuinely generous, or performed for vanity? Did he help that stranger from kindness, or from some less noble impulse? What follows is Jerome at his finest, a series of witty essays that dismantle the comfortable fiction of our own goodness. He examines charity, virtue, and the peculiar ways we deceive ourselves about our motivations. The humor comes from his relentless honesty about human hypocrisy, including his own. These are not bitter screeds but gentle, self-deprecating observations that still resonate over a century later. Jerome's gift was making readers laugh at themselves, and this collection showcases that talent perfectly.