SOURCE: Annan, Noel. “Benson's Pleasure—Noel Annan Recalls the Age of the Bachelor Don.” London Review of Books 4 (4 March 1982): 6.

In the following review, Annan discusses Benson's place among the faculty of universities in the Edwardian period.

Benson resembles a large tabby which stalks round the house switching its tail, delicately sniffing this, softly circling round that; every so often a paw is extended to pluck gently at a human being who has crossed its path—as if to explore what kind of a creature this intruder might be and whether he likes cats. Then suddenly the claws show, the paw strikes and the claws retract leaving beads of blood on the skin. As the years passed and the cat got even larger and more contented, the claws were bared less often. These extracts, chosen by Benson's splendid biographer, David Newsome, from among the four million words of the...