The Ego Is Always at the Wheel: Bagatelles

Delmore Schwartz's The Ego Is Always at the Wheel is a collection of nineteen short essays on a variety of random topics: the meaning of existentialism, the fear of being photographed, Schwartz's childhood love for the New York Giants, and Oswald Spengler's book The Decline of the West. The essays are casual and carefree — not in good way — and full of mostly banal observations. Even Schwartz's headlining piece is less interesting than the wonderfully-phrased title leads you to anticipate; it's a five page essay about a few cars he owned.