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The Art of the personal essay : an anthology from the classical era to the present / selected and with an introduction by Phillip Lopate.

"For more than four hundred years the personal essay has been one of the richest and most vibrant of all literary forms. The Art of the Personal Essay is the first anthology to celebrate this lively, fertile genre. Distinguished from the formal essay by its friendly, conversational tone, its dr...

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• I. Forerunners. On noise ; Asthma ; Scipio's villa ; Slaves / Seneca ; Consolation to his wife / Plutarch ; Hateful things / Sei Shonagon ; Essays in idleness (selections) / Kenko ; Pleasure boat studio / Ou-Yang Hsiu
• II. Fountainhead. Of books ; Of a monstrous child ; Of some verses on Virgil / Michel de Montaigne
• III. The rise of the English essay. Of greatness / Abraham Cowley ; Nicolini and the lions ; An hour or two sacred to sorrow ; Twenty-four hours in London ; Love-letters / Addison & Steele ; The boarding house ; The solitude of the country / Samuel Johnson ; An essay on the noble science of self-justification / Maria Edgeworth ; New Year's Eve ; A chapter on ears ; Dream children : a reverie ; The superannuated man / Charles Lamb ; On going a journey ; On the pleasure of hating ; The fight / William Hazlitt ; The lantern-bearers ; An apology for idlers ; On marriage / Robert Louis Stevenson ; Going out for a walk ; Laughter / Max Beerbohm ; A piece of chalk ; On running after one's hat / G.K. Chesterton ; Street haunting ; The death of the moth / Virginia Woolf ; Such, such were the joys / George Orwell
• IV. Other cultures, other continents. The execution of Tropmann / Ivan Turgenev ; This too is life ; Death / Lu Hsun ; In praise of shadows / Junichiro Tanizaki ; Unpacking my library ; Hashish in Marseilles / Walter Benjamin ; Blindness / Jorge Luis Borges ; Beside the Nore ; Aunt Harriet / Hubert Butler ; Some blind alleys : a letter / E.M. Cioran ; Leaving the movie theater / Roland Barthes ; He and I / Natalia Ginzburg ; How I started to write / Carlos Fuentes ; Why do I fast? / Wole Soyinka ; Meatless days / Sara Suleri
• V. The American scene. Walking / Henry David Thoreau ; On being an American / H.L. Mencken ; My face / Robert Benchley ; The secret life of James Thurber / James Thurber ; The crack-up / F. Scott Fitzgerald ; Once more to the lake ; The ring of time / E.B. White ; Once a tramp, always / M.F.K. Fisher ; My confession / Mary McCarthy ; For my brothers and sisters in the failure business / Seymour Krim ; Notes of a native son ; Alas, poor Richard / James Baldwin ; Some memories of the glorious bird and an earlier self / Gore Vidal ; Split at the root / Adrienne Rich ; The courage of turtles ; The threshold and the jolt of pain / Edward Hoagland ; An entrance to the woods / Wendell Berry ; Goodbye to all that ; In bed / Joan Didion ; Seeing / Annie Dillard ; The knife / Richard Selzer ; Against joie de vivre / Phillip Lopate ; Under the influence / Scott Russell Sanders ; Do he have your number, Mr. Jeffrey? / Gayle Pemberton ; Late Victorians / Richard Rodriguez.

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The Art of the personal essay : an anthology from the classical era to the present

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• Sei Shonagon
• Ou-Yang Hsiu
• Michel de Montaigne
• Abraham Cowley
• Addison & Steele
• Samuel Johnson
• Maria Edgeworth
• Charles Lamb
• William Hazlitt
• Robert Louis Stevenson
• Max Beerbohm
• G. K. Chesterton
• Virginia Woolf
• George Orwell
• Ivan Turgenev
• Junichiro Tanizaki
• Walter Benjamin
• Jorge Luis Borges
• Hubert Butler
• E. M. Cioran
• Roland Barthes
• Natalia Ginzburg
• Carlos Fuentes
• Wole Soyinka
• Sara Suleri
• Henry David Thoreau
• H. L. Mencken
• Robert Benchley
• James Thurber
• F. Scott Fitzgerald
• E. B. White
• M. F. K. Fisher
• Mary McCarthy
• Seymour Krim
• James Baldwin
• Adrienne Rich
• Edward Hoagland
• Wendell Berry
• Joan Didion
• Annie Dillard
• Richard Selzer
• Phillip Lopate
• Scott Russell Sanders
• Gayle Pemberton
• Richard Rodriguez.

Corporate Authors

Teachers & Writers Collaborative.

Other Authors

Lopate, Phillip, 1943-

Main Language

Essays > Translations into English.

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The Art of the Personal Essay by Phillip Lopate

• Publication Date: January 15, 1995
• Paperback: 777 pages
• Publisher: Anchor
• ISBN-10: 038542339X
• ISBN-13: 9780385423397
• About the Book
• Reading Guide (PDF)
• Critical Praise

Phillip Lopate

• Bibliography

The Art of the personal essay : an anthology from the classical era to the present /

• Description
• Table of Contents

Similar Items

• Sei Shonagon
• Ou-Yang Hsiu
• Michel de Montaigne
• Abraham Cowley
• Addison & Steele
• Samuel Johnson
• Maria Edgeworth
• Charles Lamb
• William Hazlitt
• Robert Louis Stevenson
• Max Beerbohm
• G. K. Chesterton
• Virginia Woolf
• George Orwell
• Ivan Turgenev
• Junichiro Tanizaki
• Walter Benjamin
• Jorge Luis Borges
• Hubert Butler
• E. M. Cioran
• Roland Barthes
• Natalia Ginzburg
• Carlos Fuentes
• Wole Soyinka
• Sara Suleri
• Henry David Thoreau
• H. L. Mencken
• Robert Benchley
• James Thurber
• F. Scott Fitzgerald
• E. B. White
• M. F. K. Fisher
• Mary McCarthy
• Seymour Krim
• James Baldwin
• Adrienne Rich
• Edward Hoagland
• Wendell Berry
• Joan Didion
• Annie Dillard
• Richard Selzer
• Phillip Lopate
• Scott Russell Sanders
• Gayle Pemberton
• Richard Rodriguez.
• The Columbia anthology of Japanese essays : zuihitsu from the tenth to the twenty-first century / Published: (2014)
• The light of the West : with some other wayside thoughts, 1865-1908 / by: Butler, William Francis, Sir, 1838-1910 Published: (1910)
• Essays of French, German and Italian essayists : including biographical and critical sketches / Published: (1900)
• German essays on music / Published: (1994)
• The complete Essays / by: Montaigne, Michel de, 1533-1592 Published: (1993)

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The Art of the Personal Essay: An Anthology from the Classical Era to the Present Summary & Study Guide

The Art of the Personal Essay: An Anthology from the Classical Era to the Present Summary & Study Guide Description

The Art of the Personal Essay: An Anthology from the Classical Era to the Present by Phillip Lopate is a book that compiles dozens of essays from writers that come from different parts of the world and different eras in time. Each of these essays has been picked for their influence on the way the personal essay has evolved throughout history.

The book begins by looking at essay writers that were born around 3 A.D. and the way that their essays were written. The subjects and language style often make it easy to see how much different things have changed. The subjects by these authors will reflect the times and the culture. There is a man that talks about losing his young daughter and how he is sorry he will miss the funeral because he is in a distant place and cannot make it home in time. There is another author that talks about a temple that he has gone to. Sometimes these essays will contain information about daily life, such as public bathhouses. The next chapter in the book deals with only one author, Michel de Montaigne. There are several essays about Montaigne and he is commented on by other essay writers later on in the book as inspiration.

The book goes in chronological order from when the essayists were born in each chapter. The next chapter in the book focuses on "The Rise of the English Essay." While this chapter deals with essays that are easier to understand it is clear that the era in time is still much different from our own. In this chapter the writers include some that are grouped together, such as Addison and Steele, and Virginia Woolf and George Orwell.

As the book moves on it will look at other cultures and their contributions to the essay. These will include Japanese, Chinese, and German writers, and essayists from many other cultures. These essay writers will touch on things important in their cultures and lives and consequently it is difficult to relate to some of the issues they approach. Some of these authors endured many hardships such as persecution from the Nazis and false imprisonment for their outspoken views.

The final chapter in the book deals with American essay writers and their effect on the personal essay. The subjects talked about in this chapter are much easier for the average person to relate to since they are issues we still deal with today. Their subjects include racial issues, political issues, the effect we are having on the environment and many others.

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The Art of the Personal Essay Hardcover – January 1, 1994

• Print length 777 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Doubleday
• Publication date January 1, 1994
• Dimensions 6.75 x 2 x 9.5 inches
• ISBN-10 0385422989
• ISBN-13 978-0385422987
• See all details

Editorial Reviews

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"Packed with personality and beguiling first-person prose... of reminders of the perils and pleasures of the craft." -- The Wall Street Journal .

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• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Doubleday (January 1, 1994)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 777 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0385422989
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0385422987
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.25 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.75 x 2 x 9.5 inches
• #784 in Ancient & Classical Literary Criticism (Books)
• #933 in Rhetoric (Books)
• #2,801 in Essays (Books)

About the author

Phillip lopate.

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Customers find the writing great, extensive, informative, and helpful. They also describe the content as insightful, interesting, and wonderful. However, some find the Kindle edition impossible to read.

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Customers find the writing and content great, insightful, and comprehensive. They also say the essays are interesting and helpful, and the book is very useful for teaching.

"...writing teacher, recommended this book to me as the most essential volume on the personal essay . I could not agree more...." Read more

"The introduction itself is invaluable. The author gives an excellent overview of the personal essay as a genre -- how the essay is put together, why..." Read more

" Wonderful writing in the personal essay format by writers from Seneca to Thurber, from Montaigne to Orwell, on subjects that are all over the map...." Read more

"Covers a lot of ground; informative and helpful." Read more

Customers find the book very insightful, interesting, and say it shows the evolution of our perceptions. They also appreciate the stories are organized in the beginning by author, theme, or subject, and the relevance of most to modern times.

"...is fast becoming one of my favorite forms - it is short, funny, and insightful . I highly recommend this book to ANYONE." Read more

"...essay is put together, why it works, what makes it so charming and interesting ...." Read more

"...of how culture has progressed over the centuries, and shows the evolution our perceptions ...." Read more

"... Stories are also organized in beginning by author, theme or subject." Read more

Customers find the book selection wonderful, classic, and brilliant.

"A classic anthology -- read the essays from cover to cover or pick through them by author or subject...." Read more

"This anthology is perfect for short essay lovers. So much great stuff in here !..." Read more

"...Essays, by the way, are classic and brilliant." Read more

" Good collection . Lots to digest so take your time!" Read more

Customers find the book timely, and appreciate the diverse essays and enormous time frame sampled.

"...introductions are insightful, essays pleasant/diverse, the time frame sampled is enormous , and most of all are a joy to read...." Read more

"Great, timely ," Read more

"High quality book, super fast delivery ...." Read more

Customers find the book difficult to read on Kindle. They also say the book is extensive and wordy.

"...The index is marred by blotches of white space making the index largely unreadable . There are other problems such as pages have been" Read more

"...It's extensive, sometimes wordy , yet if used only for sections its perfect. It's very insightful. Very interesting. Highly recommend it." Read more

"...DO NOT BUY THE KINDLE VERSION OF THIS BOOK, IT IS UNREADABLE . The format is off, there are strange symbols etc...." Read more

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The Art of the Personal Essay

Nonfiction | Essay Collection | Adult | Published in 1994

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The Art of the personal essay

An anthology from the classical era to the present, by phillip lopate.

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"A Teachers & Writers Collaborative book."

Includes bibliographical references (p. [771]-777).

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The Contemporary American Essay

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TITLES CAN BE MISLEADING.  In one sense, The Contemporary American Essay is perfectly chosen. It describes with commendable exactitude the nature of this volume. But though it pinpoints period, country, and genre, its matter-of-fact plainness belies the verve and color of the contents. What Phillip Lopate has so skilfully assembled is “a vast and variegated treasure.” That description is taken from another brilliant anthology, Lydia Fakundiny’s The Art of the Essay (1991). Fakundiny says that essays “make the language of the day” perform the essential task of “saying where we are in the moment of writing.” In so doing, she reckons that—over the centuries—this form of writing has done no less than amass “the memorabilia of individual responsiveness to all that is.” This is the treasure she talks about and that anthologists tap into. Even limiting himself to a fraction of it—just one nation’s essays, written between 2000 and the present—Lopate lays a rare trove of riches before readers.

There are forty-nine essays. To attempt to list—still less summarize—them would be inappropriate in a review. In any case, essays are resistant to summary. While academic articles submit to abstracts of their main points, essays, where the voice of the individual is paramount, are a different matter. Reading a book like this is not dissimilar to taking a long, invigorating walk that winds its way through a variety of fascinating terrains. Without attempting to condense its 600-plus pages into a paragraph, noting a few of the landmarks that particularly struck this reader should give some indication of the ground covered.

Lina Ferreira, in “CID-LAX-BOG,” talks about taking part in medical trials that involve being injected with the rabies virus—and through this unlikely lens gives considerable insight into issues of immigration, deportation, and belonging, in particular as these affect international students in America who wish to prolong their stay. Floyd Skloot, in “Gray Area: Thinking with a Damaged Brain,” touches on the nature of mind, brain, and consciousness. He considers how boxing inflicted serious brain injury on his childhood hero, Floyd Patterson. With considerable honesty, courage, and self-awareness, his essay shows how he’s come to terms with his own neurological impairment. Meghan O’Gieblyn’s “Homeschool” poses a whole catalog of questions about education, particularly the ideas behind homeschooling. Her presentation of Rousseau’s Émile as “the vade mecum of modern homeschooling” is particularly revealing—and it’s useful to be reminded that Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was written in part “as a critique of Rousseau’s pedagogy” rather than being simply the “parable about technological hubris” that it’s often presented as.

Aleksandar Hemon writes a heartbreaking account of a daughter’s death from a rare and virulent form of cancer, showing the power of words in a situation where they may seem powerless. Thomas Beller gives a luminously affectionate and atmospheric memoir about working in a bagel factory. Patricia Hampl’s “Other People’s Secrets” is an at times uncomfortable meditation on the ethics of writing. Joyce Carol Oates, in a rawly disturbing piece about imprisonment and execution, recounts her visit to San Quentin. Rebecca Solnit’s “Cassandra among the Creeps” deftly explores gender inequalities. There are also essays about disfigurement, revenge, race, vaccination, interior design, domestic abuse, and failure. And this is merely to skate over a fraction of what’s offered. Naturally, some essays appeal more than others. But all are finely written pieces. Lest the fluency of the writing make it seem easy, it’s good to have John McPhee’s “Draft No. 4,” a reminder of the sheer hard work involved in writing, and the many revisions that will have happened before each of these impressively polished essays emerged into publication.

In his short and moving “Invitation,” in which he reflects on what he learned from his years of traveling with Indigenous people, Barry Lopez suggests that “perhaps the first rule of everything we endeavor to do is to pay attention.” All of the pieces in The Contemporary American Essay are written by individuals who have followed that rule. Whatever their subject, no matter what stance they take, regardless of their background, or the cadence of the voice they elect to use, these essays are exercises in paying attention. Indeed, it’s almost as if Phillip Lopate used this first rule as his criterion for choosing what to include. It’s sad that Barry Lopez—surely one of the most accomplished nature essayists of our time—died before the book he contributed to appeared.

Unsurprisingly, given the quality of the writing that’s been assembled, the volume beautifully exemplifies many of the key features of the genre. In his influential book The Observing Self: Rediscovering the Essay , Graham Good argues that “anyone who can look attentively, think freely, and write clearly can be as essayist.” The forty-nine essays in Lopate’s selection are pleasingly varied—this is a richly diverse collection—but they all exhibit the attentive looking, freethinking, and clear writing that Good identifies as essential prerequisites. In another well-known characterization of the genre, Edward Hoagland says that essays “hang somewhere on a line between two sturdy poles: this is what I think, and this is what I am.” Again, these forty-nine essays could be arranged on precisely the line Hoagland identifies, some inclining more to one pole, some to the other, some almost dead center between them.

Many readers will be familiar with Phillip Lopate’s landmark 1994 anthology, The Art of the Personal Essay , which—deservedly—remains a key text. Putting it alongside his The Glorious American Essay: One Hundred Essays from Colonial Times to the Present (2020), The Golden Age of the American Essay, 1945–1970 (2021), and now The Contemporary American Essay makes for an impressive quartet. Each volume puts a treasury of first-rate writing before readers. Cumulatively, they constitute an important literary milestone, celebrating—demonstrating—the history, development, and present vigor of this mercurial genre. They also suggest a topic for a future essay: “On the Art of the Anthologist.” It is an art in which Phillip Lopate clearly excels.

Chris Arthur St. Andrews, Scotland

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