Philip Hensher

Lydia Davis, like an inspirational teacher, tempts her readers into more reading

Her timeless essays will introduce many to unfamiliar authors, while the importance she places on the craft of writing is rare and refreshing

issue 07 December 2019
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  • Essays

    Lydia Davis

    Hamish Hamilton, pp. 512, £20

A good indicator of just how interesting and alluring Lydia Davis’s Essays proved might be my recent credit card statement. It was hard to read very far without being introduced to an unfamiliar author, and the terms of the introduction were frequently so seductive that I found myself breaking off to order several secondhand books.

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