Time's Bounty

Philip Weinstein, for over forty years, was professor of English at Swarthmore College, and during that time published nine books of literary criticism. His Becoming Faulkner won the Hugh Holman Award as the best book on Southern Literature published in 2010. His recent essay, “Soul-Error,” was chosen for inclusion in Best American Essays 2020.

“Argues that great literary works can guide us to appreciate virtue, honesty, and self-awareness in old age.....A guide to growing old with grace and wisdom.” —Kirkus“Explores late life’s contours as a series of ‘dramas,’ lush with new curiosities, liberations and questions.” —Vineyard Gazette“An elegant rumination on the revelations of one’s final years….It’s a wise, unvarnished retrospection on the life of the mind’s pitfalls and pleasures.” —Publishers Weekly“Few among us want to dwell on aging. But Time’s Bounty is a delightful meditation on growing old. And as this sharp, well-written book, infused with wisdom from authors near and ancient, makes clear: It’s not all bad.” —Evan Friss, author of The Bookshop“This is an exquisite book, full of quiet surprises—unexpected gifts, unanticipated moments of discovery and lightness. It is also a brave book, for here Phil Weinstein brings himself, his ‘quick’—the same sensibility and clear-eyed perception he brought to the novels of Faulkner and Toni Morrison—to his experience of life in his seventies and eighties, and finds that this winter season holds a new potential: ‘the pure enjoyment of time.’ Give this book to everyone you know.” —Carol Gilligan, author of In a Human Voice“Time’s Bounty is wonderfully rich, combining reflections on aging’s unexpected vistas with insights drawn from great literature. Deeply humane without ever being sentimental, this book suggests the gift that can come from a clear-eyed apprehension of both the new limits and new freedoms that arrive in life’s late years.” —Adam Haslett, author of Mother and Sons