The Art of the Personal Essay: An Anthology from the Classical Era to the Present

Laurie Stone, the essayist and creative writing teacher, recommended this book to me as the most essential volume on the personal essay. I could not agree more. The editor, Philip Lopate, is one of the most well-respected authors of the personal essay and he has compiled this anthology of pieces from the classical era to the present. The book works well for readers and writers alike. Lopate, in his lengthy introduction, gives an overview of the personal essay, and instructions on how to use this book as a learning tool. It is divided into several sections, beginning with the essay's forerunners in the classical period. Michel De Montaigne, the father of the personal essay, gets his own section. Personally, I did not find it useful to read the book cover-to-cover - I read it in reverse. I started out with the most recent, contemporary essays - those most accessible to me - and went backwards in order to see the devolution of the essay, as it were. The essay is fast becoming one of my favorite forms - it is short, funny, and insightful. I highly recommend this book to ANYONE.

This is a nice, thick books of essays, dating back centuries up through contemporaries.

This book is full of all the classic essays and is an excellent resource for those studying writing. This book is an artifact of how culture has progressed over the centuries, and shows the evolution our perceptions. The editor, a teacher of the essay, put together the greatest in the field for this masterpiece. It's something great to have nearby on a shelf to refer or escape to without the commitment one needs for reading a book.

Using this book as a reference for a class in writing the personal essay. It is very comprehensive and the essays are interesting and helpful.

The Art of the Personal Essay: An Anthology from the Classical Era to the Present is a teachers and writers collaborative book expounding the personal essay. Lopate believes intimacy is the hallmark of the personal essay, with "the writer seemingly speaking directly into the reader's ear, confiding everything from gossip to wisdom." This intimacy invites the reader into a relationship of shared thoughts, memories, desires, complaints, and whimsy. This relationship is based on a belief that at our core we have a common experience of what it means to be human; a common anxiety, a common drive for understanding and companionship. This definition gives me fresh cause to study personal essay as a form for story and to try my hand at it. I believe our commonness is what draws us into relationship with one another, our understanding of the divine, and our own souls. Personal essay can be the vehicle to help us tell all, argue all, and laugh along the way. I like this. I like this very much. Lopate gives each an invitation to write our own personal essay.

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 it works, what makes it so charming and interesting. I've studied this intro closely and have strongly recommended it to my writer friends. In fact, I loaned my original copy of this book to someone in April but soon bought another because I didn't want to be without it until I see the person again in July. A reading treat, all the way through.

Emily Gordon assigned it for a class in personal essay it city contains many fine examples of the genre but lacks any significant aid in " how to." For some, you k know it when you see it may be sufficient but not me.

This review is for the seller Chestnut Hill Books. The book was packaged very nicely. Unlike Amazon nowadays, this book was wrapped and put in a box to prevent from damage. Item received in top shape. However, it will take a while to read this book as it is a pretty thick book.