A.E.Housman:SelectedProse

LoversofHousman'spoetryandadmirersofhisscholarshiphavelongbeenaware,fromtheIntroductoryLectureof1892andTheNameandNatureofPoetry,1933,thathewasalsomasterofahighlyindividualprosestyle;andothersbesidesclassicalstudentshaverelishedthepungencyofthefamousprefacetohiseditionofManilius.Here,inadditiontothese,isaselectionofHousman'swritings,bothscholarlyandgeneral,gatheredfromperiodicalsandotherout-of-the-waysources,whichdecisivelyconfirmshisreputationasaprosestylist.Theprefaces,theadversariaandthereviews,inparticular,givethelaymananideaoftheprecisionandthepenetrationofexactscholarship.Housman'scommentsandjudgementsonothermenilluminatehisownnature:withdrawn,austere,evencrusty,yetgentlewiththeunassuming;ruthlessinexposureofarroganceandpretension.