The Outermost Dream: Literary Sketches

William Maxwell was a long time editor at the New Yorker and a fine fiction writer in his own right. As a reviewer and essayist, his work centred on the person - diaries, biography, memoirs and letters. In this wonderful book we are given a window into some fascinating lives, some famous and others forgotten, in a style that is elegant and yet simple. No authorial pyrotechnics are allowed to get in the way between the reader and the stories. The subjects range from E.M. Forster's guide book on Alexandria, Lord Byron's personal finances and Colette's third and happiest marriage to the family relationships that lay behind Samuel Butler's "The Way of All Flesh." I hope other readers will find "The Outermost Dream" as enjoyable as I did.

I read this book several years ago in hardcover. Maxwell provides exceptionally well written critiques of contemporary biographies of writers and poets, and in doing so probably provides us with as strong a sense of the subject's writing style and personality, but without the detail of course, as was provided by the biographer. Upon completing this book I had been exposed to well crafted criticism, and had become familiar with several of the world's most important and unique writers. Highly recommended. If you enjoy Maxwell's writing, you will highly respect this book.