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Patron saint of the essay, Montaigne, looking on.

Begin with Montaigne. Reach for Adorno, for Sontag, for formal comparisons. Scramble to find literary histories, look towards established national traditions, to print culture, to the end of print culture. Retreat into definition: to “essayer,” to “try,” to “fail.” Find yourself back at Montaigne. 

Why is it so complicated to write about the essay? 

The essay is one of our most dynamic, playful, and irreverent literary forms. It is also our most ubiquitous, comprising modes of artistic production (literary, filmic, photographic) and the means by which we critique them. Nevertheless, writing about the essay, by artists or scholars, often falls back into familiar patterns and formulas, replicating the same uncertainties. 

In this cluster, we collaboratively explore alternative methods of scholarly exchange on the essay (conversation, collaborative close reading, critical fragments) that work through the cliches and paradoxes of the essay as a cultural and artistic form. Short pieces by our contributors—Kathryn Murphy, Alexandra Kingston-Reese, Gillian Russell, Philip Coleman, and Heather Macpherson—generate new ways of thinking about the essay’s familiar (if underexplored) genres and characteristics, raising questions about essayistic style to theorize and historically situate the essay’s formal and generic affiliations in the contemporary sphere. Our pieces each explore various genres and characteristics of essay writing: the personal essay, the poet’s essay, the critical essay, the visual essay, the political essay, the essay’s “prepositionality.” And each piece asks whether, indeed, we can speak of the essay in terms of genre or whether the essay, as Christy Wampole suggests, is simply “what happens when [writing] cannot be contained by its generic borders.” 

This cluster has emerged from a research network on The Contemporary Essay established at the University of York in 2020. The project was formed to stabilize an emerging body of scholarly work on the essay and to establish an international, interdisciplinary network of scholars. The group convened through a series of virtual reading groups and research events. What we initially saw as an impoverished form of academic exchange (Zoom) became a means of connecting a group of essay enthusiasts in the UK (including the Oxford Essays Research Group), Ireland, and the US in ways that would never have been possible before. The cluster records and extends our conversations over the past two years, which frequently circled back to the persistent problem of writing about the essay, to the irony, as Thomas Karshan and Kathryn Murphy put it, of writing “academic work on a form so resistant to methodical scholarship.” Our collaborative conclusion, a dialogue edited from a Zoom conversation, naturally skirts around this while reflecting on the possible futures of contemporary essay studies. 

This is part of the cluster The Contemporary Essay .  Read the other posts here .

Lola Boorman

Lola Boorman is a Lecturer in American Literature and Culture at the University of York. She co-runs The Contemporary Essay research strand at York’s Center for Modern Studies and is currently working on her first book, Make Grammar Do: Grammar and Twentieth-Century American Literature .

Ella Barker

Ella Barker is a doctoral researcher in the Department of English and Related Literature at the University of York. Her thesis reads Vladimir Nabokov by way of his institutional engagement and his relationship to literary studies. She is a co-organizer of The Contemporary Essay, a research strand funded by the Centre for Modern Studies at York, and her research is supported by WRoCAH.

Luke Young is currently reading for a DPhil in English Literature at Oriel College, Oxford. His thesis is entitled: The Modern Essayist on Trial: Style, Politics, and the Essay, 1940 to Now . He currently convenes the Oxford Essays Research Group.

What Are the Different Types and Characteristics of Essays?

• An Introduction to Punctuation
• Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, University of Georgia
• M.A., Modern English and American Literature, University of Leicester
• B.A., English, State University of New York

The term essay comes from the French for "trial" or "attempt." French author Michel de Montaigne coined the term when he assigned the title Essais to his first publication in 1580. In "Montaigne: A Biography" (1984), Donald Frame notes that Montaigne "often used the verb essayer (in modern French, normally to try ) in ways close to his project, related to experience, with the sense of trying out or testing."

An essay is a short work of nonfiction , while a writer of essays is called an essayist. In writing instruction, essay is often used as another word for composition . In an essay, an authorial voice  (or narrator ) typically invites an implied reader  (the audience ) to accept as authentic a certain textual mode of experience. 

Definitions and Observations

• "[An essay is a] composition , usually in prose .., which may be of only a few hundred words (like Bacon's "Essays") or of book length (like Locke's "Essay Concerning Human Understanding") and which discusses, formally or informally, a topic or a variety of topics." (J.A. Cuddon, "Dictionary of Literary Terms". Basil, 1991)
• " Essays are how we speak to one another in print — caroming thoughts not merely in order to convey a certain packet of information, but with a special edge or bounce of personal character in a kind of public letter." (Edward Hoagland, Introduction, "The Best American Essays : 1999". Houghton, 1999)
• "[T]he essay traffics in fact and tells the truth, yet it seems to feel free to enliven, to shape, to embellish, to make use as necessary of elements of the imaginative and the fictive — thus its inclusion in that rather unfortunate current designation ' creative nonfiction .'" (G. Douglas Atkins, "Reading Essays: An Invitation". University of Georgia Press, 2007)

Montaigne's Autobiographical Essays "Although Michel de Montaigne, who fathered the modern essay in the 16th century, wrote autobiographically (like the essayists who claim to be his followers today), his autobiography was always in the service of larger existential discoveries. He was forever on the lookout for life lessons. If he recounted the sauces he had for dinner and the stones that weighted his kidney, it was to find an element of truth that we could put in our pockets and carry away, that he could put in his own pocket. After all, Philosophy — which is what he thought he practiced in his essays, as had his idols, Seneca and Cicero, before him — is about 'learning to live.' And here lies the problem with essayists today: not that they speak of themselves, but that they do so with no effort to make their experience relevant or useful to anyone else, with no effort to extract from it any generalizable insight into the human condition." (Cristina Nehring, "What’s Wrong With the American Essay." Truthdig, Nov. 29, 2007)

The Artful Formlessness of the Essay "[G]ood essays are works of literary art. Their supposed formlessness is more a strategy to disarm the reader with the appearance of unstudied spontaneity than a reality of composition. . . . "The essay form as a whole has long been associated with an experimental method. This idea goes back to Montaigne and his endlessly suggestive use of the term essai for his writing. To essay is to attempt, to test, to make a run at something without knowing whether you are going to succeed. The experimental association also derives from the other fountain-head of the essay, Francis Bacon , and his stress on the empirical inductive method, so useful in the development of the social sciences." (Phillip Lopate, "The Art of the Personal Essay". Anchor, 1994)

Articles vs. Essays "[W]hat finally distinguishes an essay from an article may just be the author's gumption, the extent to which personal voice, vision, and style are the prime movers and shapers, even though the authorial 'I' may be only a remote energy, nowhere visible but everywhere present." (Justin Kaplan, ed. "The Best American Essays: 1990". Ticknor & Fields, 1990) "I am predisposed to the essay with knowledge to impart — but, unlike journalism, which exists primarily to present facts, the essays transcend their data, or transmute it into personal meaning. The memorable essay, unlike the article, is not place or time-bound; it survives the occasion of its original composition. Indeed, in the most brilliant essays, language is not merely the medium of communication ; it is communication." (Joyce Carol Oates, quoted by Robert Atwan in "The Best American Essays, College Edition", 2nd ed. Houghton Mifflin, 1998) "I speak of a 'genuine' essay because fakes abound. Here the old-fashioned term poetaster may apply, if only obliquely. As the poetaster is to the poet — a lesser aspirant — so the average article is to the essay: a look-alike knockoff guaranteed not to wear well. An article is often gossip. An essay is reflection and insight. An article often has the temporary advantage of social heat — what's hot out there right now. An essay's heat is interior. An article can be timely, topical, engaged in the issues and personalities of the moment; it is likely to be stale within the month. In five years it may have acquired the quaint aura of a rotary phone. An article is usually Siamese-twinned to its date of birth. An essay defies its date of birth — and ours, too. (A necessary caveat: some genuine essays are popularly called 'articles' — but this is no more than an idle, though persistent, habit of speech. What's in a name? The ephemeral is the ephemeral. The enduring is the enduring.)" (Cynthia Ozick, "SHE: Portrait of the Essay as a Warm Body." The Atlantic Monthly, September 1998)

The Status of the Essay "Though the essay has been a popular form of writing in British and American periodicals since the 18th century, until recently its status in the literary canon has been, at best, uncertain. Relegated to the composition class, frequently dismissed as mere journalism, and generally ignored as an object for serious academic study, the essay has sat, in James Thurber's phrase, ' on the edge of the chair of Literature.' "In recent years, however, prompted by both a renewed interest in rhetoric and by poststructuralist redefinitions of literature itself, the essay — as well as such related forms of 'literary nonfiction' as biography , autobiography , and travel and nature writing — has begun to attract increasing critical attention and respect." (Richard Nordquist, "Essay," in "Encylopedia of American Literature", ed. S. R. Serafin. Continuum, 1999)

The Contemporary Essay "At present, the American magazine essay , both the long feature piece and the critical essay, is flourishing, in unlikely circumstances... "There are plenty of reasons for this. One is that magazines, big and small, are taking over some of the cultural and literary ground vacated by newspapers in their seemingly unstoppable evaporation. Another is that the contemporary essay has for some time now been gaining energy as an escape from, or rival to, the perceived conservatism of much mainstream fiction... "So the contemporary essay is often to be seen engaged in acts of apparent anti-novelization: in place of plot , there is drift or the fracture of numbered paragraphs; in place of a frozen verisimilitude, there may be a sly and knowing movement between reality and fictionality; in place of the impersonal author of standard-issue third-person realism, the authorial self pops in and out of the picture, with a liberty hard to pull off in fiction." (James Wood, "Reality Effects." The New Yorker, Dec. 19 & 26, 2011)

The Lighter Side of Essays: "The Breakfast Club" Essay Assignment "All right people, we're going to try something a little different today. We are going to write an essay of not less than a thousand words describing to me who you think you are. And when I say 'essay,' I mean 'essay,' not one word repeated a thousand times. Is that clear, Mr. Bender?" (Paul Gleason as Mr. Vernon) Saturday, March 24, 1984 Shermer High School Shermer, Illinois 60062 Dear Mr. Vernon, We accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was we did wrong. What we did was wrong. But we think you're crazy to make us write this essay telling you who we think we are. What do you care? You see us as you want to see us — in the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. You see us as a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess and a criminal. Correct? That's the way we saw each other at seven o'clock this morning. We were brainwashed... But what we found out is that each one of us is a brain and an athlete and a basket case, a princess, and a criminal. Does that answer your question? Sincerely yours, The Breakfast Club (Anthony Michael Hall as Brian Johnson, "The Breakfast Club", 1985)

• Definition and Examples of Formal Essays
• Conclusion in Compositions
• Definition and Examples of Evaluation Essays
• Understanding Organization in Composition and Speech
• Models of Composition
• Thesis: Definition and Examples in Composition
• Development in Composition: Building an Essay
• List (Grammar and Sentence Styles)
• Definition and Examples of Transitional Paragraphs
• Definition and Examples of Vignettes in Prose
• Composition Type: Problem-Solution Essays
• Mood in Composition and Literature
• Learn How to Use Extended Definitions in Essays and Speeches
• Definition and Examples of Body Paragraphs in Composition
• Periodical Essay Definition and Examples
• What Is Prose?

Situation Critical Fall 2016

Defining Contemporary: From History to Future

What is contemporary? If someone asks me, I cannot help but ask back: in what terms? Do you want the dictionary definition? Philosophical definition? One knows such question of categorization cannot be answered succinctly (unless the person who answers is too annoyed or without knowledge), since these terms do not always concur with a fixed definition. Though the core to these terms remain in temporality, they mean more than just time; the terms encompass philosophy, style, historical background, ideologies, and much more. As such, critically defining these terms is a complex task.

Contemporary, in art and museum world, therefore encompasses both the sense of being literally present, or pertaining to presentism , and something more . I know it bothers people that this something more cannot clearly be defined. But again, viewing contemporary solely as being present has problems: Are modernism and postmodernism dead then? Is an artist who is stylistically anachronistic but born during the 21 st century a contemporary artist? As such, simply denoting contemporary art in terms of presentism generates contradictions and complications. How, then, do we define contemporary? I define contemporary as the harmony between presentism and contextualization through multi-temporalities. Contemporary encompasses both new sensibility, undisturbed by context and past, and previously overlooked sensibility, discovered through re-reading of historical context. That is, contemporary is defined by both multi-temporal, historical context and present, avant-garde spirit toward future.

Attempt at Contemporary

One attempt to define contemporary is Claire Bishop’s attempt to politicize and contextualize the term. In Claire Bishop’s book “Radical Museology,” Bishop defines contemporary in two terms:

• Presentism – thinking of our current moment as the horizon and destination of our thoughts
• Dialectical method and a politicized project with a more radical understanding of temporality.

First definition is easy to grasp; this definition pertains to presence itself. However, the definition of dialectical contemporary is in some sense radically different. Bishop further defines this dialectical contemporary as she writes, “What I call a dialectical contemporary seeks to navigate multiple temporalities within a more political horizon. Rather than simply claim that many or all times are present in each historical object, we need to ask why certain temporalities appear in particular works of art at specific historical moments. Furthermore, this analysis is motivated by desires to understand our present condition and how to change it.” Multiple temporalities, politicization, history, and better future are the keys to her argument. She believes that contemporary involves multiple temporalities, in which these temporalities and specific historical moments reinforce the sensibility and the context of specific works; the politicization of works through the lens of multiple temporalities, which motivates us toward better future, is what she believes to be contemporary. To further understand what she means by this, we need to take a closer look at Bishop’s examples of her new notion of contemporary. She praises Van Abbemuseum for its attempt to build historical consciousness of museum itself, Reina Sofia for rethinking education and the medium-specific status of the collection, and MSUM for displaying multiple, overlapping time periods (temporalities) to discover previously overlooked historical context.

Reflecting on Bishop’s definition of dialectical contemporary, I understand the importance of contextualization in more profoundly appreciating the work of art. However, although I agree that contemporary seeks multiple-temporalities, Bishop’s notion of contemporary too strongly emphasizes historical and educational role of contemporary; Bishop downplays the importance of presentism.

Presentism and Avant-garde

Contemporary, residing in presentism, is also the springboard for a new, breakthrough sensibility in future. This sensibility involves both technical novelty and resistance against current political tendency (which in Bishop’s case is neo-liberalism). I understand that re-reading historical context of artworks can be great in understanding previously unseen sensibilities; for instance, Bishop praised Reina Sofia for displaying historically relevant newspapers, magazines, songs, and other mediums next to an artwork, creating an overall. more enlightening context for the work. I am sure this exhibition technique discloses previously unnoticed sensibility; as you unveil context and as it reinforces new meaning to work, the work may appear differently. However, though I agree with Bishop’s idea of politicization and historicization to a certain extent, her definition of contemporary seems to neglect or lacks to prioritize the search for a new, avant-garde sensibility. This particular new sensibility is the sensibility that is both challenging to current political concern (neo-liberalism) and is stylistically novel. Although I think Bishop’s vision can set up challenges to current neo-liberal market driven world of contemporary, I doubt if it can expand on avant-garde spirit. Bishop’s definition does not empower presentism as it prioritizes politicization, and this downplay of presentism in comparison to dialectical contemporary discomfits me. Being present and being without ties to history and politicization clears away the distractions for the emergence of avant-garde sensibilities. Thinking of contemporary within historical context is important and enlightening, but genuine avant-garde spirit, that is central to the progress of art in its search for stylistically ‘new,’ should deserve higher or at least equal priority in defining contemporary.

Contemporary Is…

Therefore, contemporary is about both presentism to achieve avant-garde, new sensibility in future, and dialectical contemporary that understands works through certain context established by multi-temporalities and politicization. This definition encompassses the efforts both to be stylistically new and to understand work more deeply through politicization and contextualization. Though my definition is similar to that of Claire Bishop, I want to define contemporary more in terms of presentism rather than of historicization and politicization. I understand that she has problems with neoliberal tendency of art institutions and thus, her definition of contemporary is in a way reactionary to neo-liberalism. However, this backlash definition cannot propel contemporary forward, toward future. Bishop certainly uses the notion of future in her contemporary dialectics, saying that understanding history prepares us for future. I agree with her that understanding work from multiple temporalities and multiple mediums is fruitful for our future attitude in exploring art. However, contemporary art should not be too subject to analysis and contextualization for its progress in sensibilities. If her definition of contemporary emphasizes reframing and re-reading, I emphasize more of presentism. Focusing on senses of present moment increases the possibility for new sensibilities that transcends historical and political context. Because Bishop’s definition is more reactionary to what she hates, which is neo-liberal forces that increasingly affect contemporary, her definition tends to overlook what is central to the progress of art: genuine, avant-garde pursuit of new sensibilities.

Contemporary is both about presentism and contextualization of work through multiple temporalities. First definition stays conducive to the emergence of new sensibilities, and the second definition enables one to see work’s previously unveiled sensibilities. I agree with Bishop’s approach to define contemporary, but I wish that she does not overlook the power of presentism. The power of rereading and reframing is great, it educates us. But art is more than education. It is about exploration of new sensibilities: new sensibilities in style, retained by an artwork itself and intended by its author (not requiring other contexts from multi-temporalities). Contemporary belongs to both sense and logical understanding, and these two work harmonically toward future sensibility that is both completely new (avant-garde) and re-contextualized (previously overlooked). Contemporary should not divert away from presentism just because present is filled with market-driven epidemic of capitalism; in fact, it is sometimes de-contextualization and focus on present moment that produces new sensibility, completely new and groundbreaking in its style and resistant to neo-liberal market context.

1,279 Comments

I found lots of solace in reading this piece; my own reflection on “contemporary” asked just as many questions as yours did at first, some of them very similar. However, you did a much better job than I was able to at creating a sort of working definition that, as you state, is so hard to come by. I agree with your assertion that a sense of presentism has been lost in Bishop’s valiant attempts to tie historicization to the contemporary. I read her argument to still believe in such a presentism that you call for, though I agree that she could have been more intentional about explaining that. Either way, we can all agree that “the emergence of new sensibilities” and the need to “see work’s previously unveiled sensibilities” are both necessary endeavors when trying to define a work’s place within “the contemporary.”

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Similarly to Mai, I really admire the way you carefully worked through this very difficult issue and didn’t give up until you reached a conclusion that felt right to you. I completely agree that at times Bishop’s argument seemed to devalue the idea of the present a little too much. You bravely combined your own opinions with with Bishop’s grounding to put forth a formidable argument. I think I could learn a lot from the thought process you present here. Thank you for your meticulous work!

Here’s a nice comment for the article on contemporary art:

This is a fantastic analysis! You, like Mai, demonstrate impressive perseverance in grappling with this complex issue.

Strengths of the Analysis: Persistence and Thoughtful Approach: You acknowledge the writer’s “careful work” and “not giving up” until reaching a “conclusion that felt right”. This highlights their dedication and thoughtful approach. Nuanced Response to Bishop: You appreciate the critique of Bishop’s argument potentially “devaluing the present” too much. This demonstrates a balanced analysis. Strong Argument: You commend the writer for “bravely combining their own opinions with Bishop’s grounding” to “put forth a formidable argument”. This is a significant strength. Valuable Thought Process: You acknowledge the potential for learning from the “thought process” presented in the article. This is a high compliment. Meticulous Work: You appreciate the “meticulous work” invested in the analysis. Overall, your comment is insightful and engaging. It highlights the writer’s perseverance, thoughtful approach, balanced analysis, strong argument, and the value of the ideas presented. This is a valuable contribution to the discussion

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Jae — This is a marvelous piece. Your insistence that we retain a place for “presentism” as capable of transformation beyond the anything goes relativism of the contemporary (!) global ideology of neoliberalism is important. It retains a space for the pursuit of what you refer to as genuinely new sensibilities. It also reminds me that there’s a conservative impulse buried in Bishop’s argument. She implies that conserving the past by remixing it as an archive of the commons becomes a better mode of radicalism in the present, a way to change things for the better. You remind us that while this isn’t a terrible thing, it does block out art that might actually be fully new and not just a remix of the past. And that is important. Hers is in some sense a kind of reaction to the present; you argue for keeping a space where not just reaction, but fresh and unprecedented action might occur, both aesthetically and, by extension, ideologically and politically. It would be interesting to try to map this out a bit more: what kind of presentism might be different from the latest easily absorbed mode of rebellion on offer in the global art market? What might its outlines or contours look like? Those are difficult questions to answer, since your whole point is that it might be new, and therefore unrecognizable at first, but still, as a critic, worth trying to imagine. I like your tone in this piece too, the crisp sentences, abbreviated, sometimes even choppy sentences create a kind of urgency that fits with your argument. Nice work.

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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

More Reviews

The Prairie Chicken Dance Tour Dawn Dumont

The Contemporary American Essay Ed. Phillip Lopate

The Books of Jacob: A Novel Olga Tokarczuk. Trans. Jennifer Croft

Heard-Hoard Atsuro Riley.

The Morning Star Karl Ove Knausgaard. Trans. Martin Aitken

The Best Asian Short Stories 2020 Ed. Zafar Anjum

The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity David Graeber & David Wengrow

Purple Perilla Can Xue. Trans. Karen Gernant & Chen Zeping

Dendrarium Alexander Shurbanov. Trans. Valentina Meloni & Francesco Tomada

Ancestral Demon of a Grieving Bride Sy Hoahwah

Here Is a Body Basma Abdel Aziz. Trans. Jonathan Wright

Chasing Homer László Krasznahorkai. Trans. John Batki

Three Novels Yuri Herrera. Trans. Lisa Dillman

Homecoming Trails in Mexican American Cultural History: Biography, Nationhood, and Globalism Ed. Roberto Cantú

14 International Younger Poets Ed. Philip Nikolayev

De quoi aimer vivre Fatou Diome

L.A. Weather María Amparo Escandón

How Literatures Begin: A Global History Ed. Joel B. Lande & Denis Feeney

Notes on Grief Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

Testamint fan de siel Hylke Speerstra

Whisper Chang Yu-Ko. Trans. Roddy Flagg

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January 2022

Muscogee writer  Cynthia Leitich Smith , winner of the 2021 NSK Neustadt Prize for Children’s & Young Adult Literature, headlines the January 2022 issue with a reflective essay on “Decolonizing Neverland” in YA lit. Also inside, essays, poetry, fiction, and interview, as well as more than twenty book reviews—plus recommended reads and other great content—make the latest issue of  WLT , like every issue, your passport to great reading.

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Table of Contents

In every issue, creative nonfiction, the nsk neustadt prize: cynthia leitich smith, book reviews.