Age has its prerogatives, excellence being foremost among them. We bow to V. S. Pritchett. Nearing 80, he is at the top of his powers, and he is writing at white heat.

These nine new stories [in On the Edge of the Cliff and Other Stories] outshine his recent Selected Stories. Love was their theme, but passion is the operative force here; and the contrast between the often submerged longings and the manners of his English subjects makes these intrigues doubly intriguing. Such is their economy that you have to read them twice, at least, to be sure.

Pritchett's characters are more British than the quirky British themselves…. [The] heart of the book is contained in a single still moment that impresses itself almost physically on the reader: the image of the amorous septuagenarian of the title story, bird-naked, arms uplifted, poised to dive from the cliff into the...