The Wound and the Bow

In this classic work, “the greatest literary critic of the 20th century” probes the lives and works of seven great writers ( New York Magazine ). Combining biographical and critical sketches, Edmund Wilson searches for the wellspring of artistic genius in this series of seven essays. His wide-ranging subjects include Charles Dickens, Rudyard Kipling, Edith Wharton, Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, Jacques Casanova, and Sophocles. The first two studies, of Charles Dickens and Rudyard Kipling, revea