"Going Out For a Walk" by Max Beerbohm is a short
humorous essay, in which Beerbohm casts himself as a typical urbanite, aesthete, and
intellectual, who is dubious about the virtues of outdoor
exercise.
He portrays himself as never "going out for a
walk" voluntarily, of his own volition, but instead as having acquaintances he meets
while visiting the country "take him out on walks", i.e. compel him to walk with them by
offering invitations it would be rude to refuse. In the middle of the essay, he
describes walking as an activity inimical to thought and good conversation, arguing that
the brain shuts off during a walk.
In a humorous twist
though, he ends the essay by mentioning that the inspiration for the essay, and much of
its structure, were worked out by him as he was out walking.
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