A Native o New York City, Walden was on the editorial staff of The New Yorker from 1942 to 1983. In this debut collection Walden delights with a splendid repertoire of self-inflecting thoughts, mordant reflections, and puckish jabs on a variety of topics: the conundrum of gender and relationships, the fruits and ravages of time, the vexations of travel, the ordeal of aging and death, the pretentiousness of art and literature, the joys of language and word play, and many other subjects weighty and whimsical.