Pick of the paperbacks; The Tale Bearers, by V. S. Pritchett. New York: Vintage Books/Random House. $4 .95.

This collection of 23 essays on various English and American authors may be considered a rough sort of sequel to "The Myth Makers." the writers covered by these often witty and sometimes profound essays range from the indisputably major (Henry James, Joseph conrad), through the minor ranks (E. F. Benson, Baron Corvo), all the way to the totally unheard-of