Download or read book The American Essay in the American Century written by Ned Stuckey-French and published by University of Missouri Press. This book was released on 2011-05-31 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In modern culture, the essay is often considered an old-fashioned, unoriginal form of literary styling. The word essay brings to mind the uninspired five-paragraph theme taught in schools around the country or the antiquated, Edwardian meanderings of English gentlemen rattling on about art and old books. These connotations exist despite the fact that Americans have been reading and enjoying personal essays in popular magazines for decades, engaging with a multitude of ideas through this short-form means of expression. To defend the essay—that misunderstood staple of first-year composition courses—Ned Stuckey-French has written The American Essay in the American Century. This book uncovers the buried history of the American personal essay and reveals how it played a significant role in twentieth-century cultural history. In the early 1900s, writers and critics debated the “death of the essay,” claiming it was too traditional to survive the era’s growing commercialism, labeling it a bastion of British upper-class conventions. Yet in that period, the essay blossomed into a cultural force as a new group of writers composed essays that responded to the concerns of America’s expanding cosmopolitan readership. These essays would spark the “magazine revolution,” giving a fresh voice to the ascendant middle class of the young century. With extensive research and a cultural context, Stuckey-French describes the many reasons essays grew in appeal and importance for Americans. He also explores the rise of E. B. White, considered by many the greatest American essayist of the first half of the twentieth century whose prowess was overshadowed by his success in other fields of writing. White’s work introduced a new voice, creating an American essay that melded seriousness and political resolve with humor and self-deprecation. This book is one of the first to consider and reflect on the contributions of E. B. White to the personal essay tradition and American culture more generally. The American Essay in the American Century is a compelling, highly readable book that illuminates the history of a secretly beloved literary genre. A work that will appeal to fiction readers, scholars, and students alike, this book offers fundamental insight into modern American literary history and the intersections of literature, culture, and class through the personal essay. This thoroughly researched volume dismisses, once and for all, the “death of the essay,” proving that the essay will remain relevant for a very long time to come.
Download or read book The Making of the American Essay written by John D'Agata and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2016-03-15 with total page 821 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Now, with "The making of the American essay' the editor includes selections ranging from Anne Bradstreet's secular prayers to Washington Irving's satires, Emily Dickinson's love letters to Kenneth Goldsmith's catalog's, Gertrude Stein's portraits to James Baldwin's and Norman Mailer's mediations on boxing. In this volume the editor uncovers new stories in the American essay's past and shows us that some of the most fiercely daring writers in the American literary canon have turned to the essay in order to produce some of our culture's most exhilarating art."-- book jacket.
Download or read book The Oxford Book of Latin American Essays written by Ilan Stavans and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 1997 with total page 536 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An intriguing collection of more than 70 Latin American essays, some never before translated into English, gives us the whole spectrum of concerns that have animated some of the greatest writers of our time--from Andres Bello, Pablo Neruda, and Alfonso Reyes to Carlos Fuentes, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and Rosario Ferre--an assembly confident, ingenious, aware.
Download or read book The Glorious American Essay written by Phillip Lopate and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2021-10-19 with total page 929 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A monumental, canon-defining anthology of three centuries of American essays, from Cotton Mather and Benjamin Franklin to David Foster Wallace and Zadie Smith—selected by acclaimed essayist Phillip Lopate "Not only an education but a joy. This is a book for the ages." —Rivka Galchen, author of Atmospheric Disturbances The essay form is an especially democratic one, and many of the essays Phillip Lopate has gathered here address themselves—sometimes critically—to American values. We see the Puritans, the Founding Fathers and Mothers, and the stars of the American Renaissance struggle to establish a national culture. A grand tradition of nature writing runs from Audubon, Thoreau, and John Muir to Rachel Carson and Annie Dillard. Marginalized groups use the essay to assert or to complicate notions of identity. Lopate has cast his net wide, embracing critical, personal, political, philosophical, literary, polemical, autobiographical, and humorous essays. Americans by birth as well as immigrants appear here, famous essayists alongside writers more celebrated for fiction or poetry. The result is a dazzling overview of the riches of the American essay.
Download or read book Essays on English and American Literature written by Leo Spitzer and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2015-12-08 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The late Leo Spitzer enjoyed a reputation as one of the twentieth century's outstanding philologists and linguists. His writings in the field of the romance languages and of comparative philology have been always stimulating, often controversial. This collection presents his essays in English and American literature which appeared in various journals and other publications during his lifetime. They range from an explication de texte of three great Middle English poems, through close scrutiny of writings of Donne, Milton, Keats, to a consideration of Edgar Allan Poe and Whitman, and, finally, to one of Yeats’ poems. Each of the essays in this collection is illuminated and heightened by Professor Spitzer’s careful and imaginative exegesis. The delightful "American Advertising Explained as Popular Art" is included as a sample of Professor Spitzer’s commentary on American culture. Originally published in 1962. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.
Download or read book The Signet Book of American Essays written by M. Jerry Weiss and published by Signet. This book was released on 2006-08-01 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Featuring Essays by Benjamin Franklin • Ralph Waldo Emerson • W.E.B. Du Bois • Albert Einstein • Gloria Steinem • Henry David Thoreau • Martin Luther King, Jr. • Mark Twain • Erma Bombeck • Abraham Lincoln • John F. Kennedy • and More... These are Americans who had something important to say—and said it in powerful, convincing ways. A compendium of commentary, criticism, and oratory excellence from throughout the nation’s history, The Signet Book of American Essays is a perfect resource for those searching for the most timeless essays ever conceived by America’s notable scientists, philosophers, politicians, and writers. From the wisdom of Benjamin Franklin to the outspoken empowerment of Gloria Steinem, from the biting satire of Mark Twain to the grave seriousness of Franklin D. Roosevelt, this collection offers the opportunity to learn the subtle arts of persuasion and rational argument as exemplified in these great American dissertations crafted by some of the country’s most brilliant and intriguing citizens.
Download or read book The Beacon Book of Essays by Contemporary American Women written by Wendy Martin and published by Beacon Press (MA). This book was released on 1996 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Two generations ago, most essayists were men, but in recent decades, women writers have claimed the personal essay, using its freedom to explore contemporary life in all its diversity. Wendy Martin has gathered a wide range of writing, from classics by Maya Angelou and Joan Didion to new voices of younger writers, many appearing here for the first time in book form.
Download or read book The Best American Essays 2016 written by Jonathan Franzen and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 2016-10-04 with total page 355 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The National Book Award–winning author compiles a “thought-provoking volume” of essays by Joyce Carol Oates, Oliver Sacks, Jaquira Diaz and others (Publishers Weekly). As Jonathan Franzen writes in his introduction, his main criterion for selecting The Best American Essays 2016 “was whether an author had taken a risk.” The resulting volume showcases authorial risk in a variety of forms, from championing an unpopular opinion to the possibility of ruining a professional career, or irrevocably alienating one’s family. What’s gained are essential insights into aspects of the human condition that would otherwise remain concealed—from questions of queer identity, to the experience of a sibling’s autism and relationships between students and college professors. The Best American Essays 2016 includes entries by Alexander Chee, Paul Crenshaw, Jaquira Diaz, Laura Kipnis, Amitava Kaumar, Sebastian Junger, Joyce Carol Oates, Oliver Sacks, George Steiner, Thomas Chatterton Williams, and others.
Download or read book American Culture written by Leonard Plotnicov and published by University of Pittsburgh Pre. This book was released on 2010-11-23 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: American Culture comprises fifteen essays looking at the familiar and the less familiar in American society: urbanites in Pittsburgh and Indianapolis, rural communities in the American West, Hispanics in Wisconsin, Samoans in California, the Amish, and the utopian religious communities of the Shakers and Oneida. The essays address a wide range of topics and a spectrum of occupations-miners, whalers, farmers, factory workers, physicians and nurses-to consider such questions as why some religious sects remain distinctive, separate, and viable; how groups use of such things as nicknames and family reunions to maintain ties within the community; how immigrant communities organize to sustain traditional cultural activities.
Download or read book The Best American Essays 2019 written by Rebecca Solnit and published by Mariner Books. This book was released on 2019-10 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of the year's best essays selected by Robert Atwan and guest editor Rebecca Solnit. Award-winning writer, cultural critic, and activist, Rebecca Solnit, an "unparalleled high priestess of nuance and intelligent contemplation" (Maria Popova), selects the best essays of the year from hundreds of magazines, journals, and websites.
Download or read book The Beginnings of American English written by Mitford McLeod Mathews and published by . This book was released on 1963 with total page 181 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Essays English and American written by Anonymous and published by . This book was released on 2023-07-18 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Oxford Book of American Essays written by Brander Matthews and published by . This book was released on 1914 with total page 532 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Next American Essay written by John D'Agata and published by New History of the Essay. This book was released on 2003-02 with total page 500 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of nonfiction essays on such topics as culture, myth, history, romance, and sex includes contributions by such authors as Guy Davenport, Annie Dillard, Jamaica Kincaid, and Susan Sontag. In this singular collection, John D'Agata takes a literary tour of lyric essays written by the masters of the craft. Beginning with 1975 and John McPhee's ingenious piece, the Search for Marvin Gardens, D'Agata selects an example of creative nonfiction for each subsequent year. These essays are unrestrained, elusive, explosive, mysterious, a personal lingual playground. They encompass and illuminate culture, myth, history, romance, and sex. Each essay is a world of its own, a world so distinctive it resists definition.
Download or read book The Best American Essays of the Century written by Joyce Carol Oates and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 634 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fifty five unforgettable essays by the finest American writers of the twentieth century.
Download or read book The Best American Essays 2011 written by Edwidge Danticat and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 2011-10-04 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The acclaimed author of Breath, Eyes, Memory presents an anthology of personal essays by Hilton Als, Christopher Hitchens, Zadie Smith and others. In her selection process for this sterling volume, Edwidge Danticat considers the inherent vulnerability of the essay form—a vulnerability that seems all the more present in today’s spotlighted public square. As she says in her introduction, “when we insert our ‘I’ (our eye) to search deeper into someone, something, or ourselves, we are always risking a yawn or a slap, indifference or disdain.” Here are intimate personal essays that examine a range of vital topics, from cancer diagnosis to police brutality, and from devastating natural disasters to the dilemmas of modern medicine. All in all, “the brave voices behind these experiences keep the pages turning” (Kirkus Reviews). The Best American Essays 2011 includes entries by Hilton Als, Katy Butler, Toi Derricotte, Christopher Hitchens, Pico Iyer, Charlie LeDuff, Chang-Rae Lee, Lia Purpura, Zadie Smith, Reshma Memon Yaqub, and others.
Download or read book The Oxford Book of American Essays written by W. C. Brownell and published by Prabhat Prakashan. This book was released on 2021-01-01 with total page 396 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This essay appeared originally in the Atlantic Monthly for May, 1883. During the thirty years which have elapsed since it was written the manifestations of the colonial spirit then apparent in the United States have not only altered in character but, I am glad to say, have weakened, diminished, and become less noticeable. Since 1883, also, there has been much achieved by Americans in Art and Literature, in painting, in sculpture, in music, and particularly in architecture. Success in all these fields has, with few exceptions, been won by men working in the spirit which is not colonial, but which it was the purpose of this essay to inculcate as the true one to which alone we could look for fine and enduring achievement. I have called attention to the date at which the essay was written in order that those who read it may remember that it applies in certain points to the conditions of thirty years ago and not to those of the present day.
