Some Diversions of a Man of Letters

Literary reputations rise and fall, and Edmund Gosse begins these essays by asking what makes one generation admire the poetry another dismisses. His preface traces changing judgments of Wordsworth and the French poet Sully-Prudhomme, testing the idea that standards of beauty remain fixed. The collection ranges across English and American literature, with chapters on Shakespeare's songs, Sterne, Poe, the Brontës, Disraeli's novels and Thomas Hardy's lyrical poetry.

Alongside literary criticism, Gosse offers personal portraits. The account of Lady Dorothy Nevill recalls her physical energy, sharp humour, needlework, collections and taste for unusual picture postcards. These small observations give the volume a conversational character and connect its discussions of books with remembered lives. Readers interested in the history of criticism can follow an experienced observer weighing both changing tastes and the details that make a personality memorable.