One of the greatest literary critics of our age, Clive James is a stylist in the tradition of Edmund Wilson. Perceptive and funny he is able to render the twisted literary terrain of the 20th century remarkably accessible. In "As of This Writing", Clive James has assembled a title that features 40 essays on poetry, film, culture and fiction written between 1967 and 2001. Commenting on poets like Auden or Jarrell, novelists like D.H. Lawrence and James Agee (not to mention Judith Krantz), or filmmakers like Fellini or Bogdanovich, James manages to combine manic energy with critical aplomb.