In a Cardboard Belt!

Taking his title from the wounded cry of once-great Max Bialystock in The Producers--"Look at me now! Look at me now! I'm wearing a cardboard belt!"--Epstein gives us his largest and most comprehensive collection to date. Writing as a memoirist, polemicist, literary critic, and amused observer of contemporary culture, he uses to deft and devastating effect his signature gifts: wide-ranging erudition, sparkling humor, and a penetrating intelligence. In personally revealing essays about his father and about his years as a teacher, in deeply considered examinations of writers from Paul Vale;ry to Truman Capote, and in incisive take-downs of such cultural pooh-bahs as Harold Bloom and George Steiner, Epstein presents us with what is surely the best work of our country's most singular talent, engaged with the richness and variety of life, witty in his response to the world, and always entertaining.