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.

Beautiful book. So happy to have it. Thank you so much!

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.

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

The book was good it has a lot of highlighting and the edges are worn in making it look old. It has the story's I need so it works well

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.

Still an essential source for enjoying and learning about this versatile literary form from one of its most virtuosic masters and teachers. Thank you again Mr. Lopate for your own beautiful, edgy personal essays and your instructive care for revitalizing and refreshing the form itself. May you take some pride in the cohort of wonderful personal essayists who have dug into the work since you first published this classic anthology. Yashar koach!

This book is the definitive collection of essays that will prove a valuable read to students of literature and the wider public alike. It includes essays from antiquity through to modernity, and serves as an interesting means of assessing the ebbs and flows of various cultures over time. The editor, Phillip Lopate, is known as both a teacher and author of the personal essays, and has compiled some of the best examples of the form throughout history. A particular joy is his lengthy introduction, which sets out to describe the nature of the essay and provide some preliminary guidance on how to use the book as a learning resource. This book has proven interesting to read in its own right – including topics as diverse as food, sex, nature and illness – and as a means of developing myself as an essayist. The selected essays, diverse as they are, are unfailing in the joy they bring to read and the insights they deliver. This anthology deserves a place on everyone’s bookshelf and I could not recommend it enough. If you found this review useful in any way I’d be super grateful if you clicked the “helpful” button below to let me know :)

A wonderful compilation of classic essays. If anyone is trying to hone their essay writing skills, this book is the go-to reference. I am thoroughly enjoying reading this book.

Very good service.

This book really makes the personal essay stand as a genre, a very fruitful one. To witness the free and surprising development of the mind of each writer is a joy of the personal essays compiled and introduced by Lopate.