Exploring the everyday relationships of common people, this collection of portraits and commentary highlights the dichotomies between husbands and wives, actors and directors, a poet and his landscape, a professor and his books, and more. Providing a variety of vivid and touching evocations, this study delves into many notable writers, artists, thespians, and educators as well as their respective worlds, uniquely presenting their observations on one another. Subjects include Seamus Heaney, Norman Mailer, Joan Plowright, and Salman Rushdie.