Table-Talk
Essays on Men and Manners
A collection of William Hazlitt’s essays, first published in two volumes in 1821 and 1822 and among the finest prose in English. Hazlitt writes on painting, on the pleasure of hating, on going a journey, on the fear of death, on people of genius and on why they so often disappoint in person. He moves between criticism, memoir and argument without announcing which is which. He took Montaigne as his model, and like Montaigne he is at his best when the subject is a pretext for watching his own mind work.
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A. C. Grayling
Hazlitt is one of the greatest essayists of the English language. He applies himself in his essays to everything from philosophy to the arts and theatre. He works to the model set by Montaigne, the French essayist. Another of his books particularly testifies to his perceptive mind, The Spirit of the Age, in which he names all the people he thought would still be known 100 years ahead.
Interview · October 2009
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