A Variety of Things

This collection by Max Beerbohm is another example of how wandering around stacks of books can lead to unexpected pleasures and the opening of new doors. I bought the book carelessly, thinking it was by the Bohemian poet Maxwell Bodenheim, who was on my mind for some reason. (I had recently bought a Ben Hecht book that parodied him, and seemed to remember that Bodenheim was murdered.) Beerbohm (1872-1956) is another kettle of fish, I have since learned: dandy, caricaturist, writer and friend of Wilde and other literary lights. This collection includes a prehistoric fable about a dragon with echoes of Cabell, essays on Aubrey Beardsley and Venice, a play, and assorted other pieces. Beerbohm's work evokes the gentle irony of Anatole France and the elegance of Waugh. As Beerbohm himself writes in one of the pieces, humor is a matter of fashion, and fashions come and go; but wit, "being a hard and clean-cut thing, is always good as new." This collection is good as new.