What I Came to Say

The late British author was a professor of drama at Cambridge University before his death in 1988. The 28 essays reprinted here from various British periodicals, dating between 1957 and 1984, are distinguished by shrewd literary and political insights, elegant writing and a well-developed sense of fun. Clearly an omnivorous observer of culture, Williams comments on films and books; education and educators (as a working-class student at Cambridge, he found it populated with ``extraordinarily coarse, pushing . . . loud, competitive and deprived people''); modern technology; and comedy (in ``Gravity's Python,'' he laments the loss of ``bite'' in modern satire). Of particular interest is a cogent, provocative piece on Brecht defending the playwright's work as a critique of ``stupid bureaucracy'' and social ills. Each essay, bearing the mark of Williams's idiosyncratic intellectual signature, is rewarding. (June)