Edward Dahlberg, one of the last great men of letters, left behind at his death in 1977 dozens of uncollected essays, reviews, stories, and prefaces. Samuel Beckett's Wake gathers all the shorter pieces that were left out of (or written after) his two earlier collections of essays. The full range of Dahlberg's abilities in shorter forms is displayed here: from skillful reportage to imaginative essays, from proletarian fiction to inspired parody, from travel pieces and personal memoirs to historical studies, along with some of the most cantankerous book reviews ever published.