Never Say You've Had a Lucky Life

Especially If You've Had a Lucky Life

By: Joseph Epstein

Narrated by: Fred Sanders

A rich and comic portrait of the radical changes in American life and the literary world over the last eighty years.

An autobiography usually requires a justification. The great autobiographies—those by Benvenuto Cellini, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Benjamin Franklin, and Henry Brooks Adams—were justified by their authors living in interesting times, harboring radically new ideas, or participating in great events. Joseph Epstein qualifies on none of these counts. His life has been quiet, lucky in numerous ways, and far from dramatic. But it has also been emblematic of the great changes in our country since World War II.

He grew up in a petit-bourgeois, Midwestern milieu, and the city of Chicago looms large in his life. He drew a lucky ticket in the parent lottery and his was a happy boyhood spent on playgrounds and hanging around drug stores. At high school dances, he was the rhumba king and at drive-in movies he was never allowed to go as far with girls as he so ardently desired. At twenty-six, after two years in the army, he found himself married, the father or stepfather of four children, and living in New York on the meager salary of a magazine subeditor. He was ablaze with ambition and fettered by frustration. He broke out by moving to Little Rock, Arkansas, to direct the city’s anti-poverty program at the height of the Civil Rights movement. His writing career blossomed, he began teaching at Northwestern University, and, for twenty-five years, edited one of great intellectual magazines.

Never Say You’ve Had a Lucky Life is an intimate look at one life steeped in radical change: from a traditionally moral culture to a therapeutic one, from an era when the extended family was strong to its current diminished status, from print to digital life featuring the war of pixel on print, and on. But for all the seriousness of Epstein’s themes, this book is memorable for its comic point of view and the constant reminder of how unpredictable, various, and wondrously rich life can be.

He did it his way

This was such an enjoyable book. So glad that Mr. Epstein finally got around to writing a memoir. I wish him many more happy healthy years.

Good Listening

I'm a longtime reader of Joseph Epstein, so I expected I would like this audiobook -- and I did. I don't think it's Epstein's very best writing, but it held my attention. If you like Epstein's essays, you'll like this.

The prolog, epilog and his growing up in Chicago. The p and e were extremely poignant.

Too much "name dropping", was repetitive and after constantly being used, I realized I didn't care. in the context of the narrative certain names were apropos to the story. But some of his lists got boring.

A circumspect life?

Most enjoyable. Good dry humor and a practical philosophy of life. The narration is well done

Down Memory Lane

A close friend recommended this book to me. I am not a fan of autobiographies. This is the exception.

I am a few years younger than the author but did grow up in the same era, so I could relate to his memories. I grew up in a predominantly Jewish town while not being Jewish. So when the author described his high school experiences between Jewish and gentile students, the description was vivid for me

The writing is "marvelous, darling," As Zaza Gabor would say. It is light. elegant and entertaining. I am sure he was an excellent instructor. My regret is I never took any of his classes.

His views, opinions and experiences aligned with my own.

So, while reading the book is a stroll down memory lane I do have to ask the author two simple questions.

You seemed to be very bitter about your Northwestern University experiences, even going so far as to say that after 30 years of teaching, you retired with no friends in the English Department. My two questions are: 1. Don't you think you contributed to this misalignment by your own conduct? Why stay so long in an environment that you felt was so toxic?