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What's A Friend and Types of Friends
Houghton Mifflin
July 2006
288 pages
ISBN: 0618341498
Hardcover
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Self-Help Relationships | Non-Fiction
Just as his best-selling Snobbery argued that contemporary
American snobbery isn't what it used to be, Friendship: An
Expos begins with Joseph Epstein's feeling that friendship,
too, is somehow different today. From the idealization of
"family time" to the acceptance of gender equality, from
technological leaps like e-mail and instant messaging to the
(very recent) assumption that your spouse will be your best
friend, Epstein charts the unexpected and surprising forces
that have squeezed and shaped friendship. In the process, he
sketches a witty and incisive anatomy of the modern version:
its duties and requirements ("Reciprocity, or Is It
Obligation?"), the various kinds of friendships ("A Little
Taxonomy of Friends"), the differences between male and
female friendships, the complications marriage creates
("Friendship's New Rival"), even what happens when sex
enters the equation. Moving easily from Aristotle to
Seinfeld, and drawing on his own experiences with people
great (Saul Bellow and Ralph Ellison) and unknown (an army
bunkmate), Epstein uncovers the surprising and hidden truths
of friendships and so inspires us to reconsider our own.
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