"If I have a gift," Cyril Connolly stated in his introduction to Previous Convictions (1963), "it is that of being able to communicate my enthusiasm for literature and throw a little light on my favourite authors." Previous Convictions was Connolly's third collection of essays and reviews; the first two, he complained, were "both out of print: I really don't know why one goes on." The self-mocking, histrionic petulance of that remark, characteristic of the individuality and flair of Connolly's style, suggests why his earlier description, though accurately conveying the intention behind much of his work, is too modest an index of the high quality of its execution.

Connolly was, in fact, one of the finest British essayists and reviewers--and one of the sharpest parodists--of this century. Indeed, through his friendships with other writers and his ten-year editorship of the literary magazine Horizon (1940-1950), he stood at the center of...