Writing New York: A Literary Anthology

by Phillip Lopate (Editor)

With contributions from some of the nation's greatest writers, this celebration of life in New York includes the voices of Edgar Allan Poe, Washington Irving, Gay Talese, E. B. White, Zora Neale Hurston, William Carlos Williams, and many others. Reprint.

Genres: New York, Fiction, Essays, Anthologies, Short Stories, Poetry, American

1056 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1998

About the author

Phillip Lopate is the author of three personal essay collections, two novels, two poetry collections, a memoir of his teaching experiences, and a collection of his movie criticism. He has edited the following anthologies, and his essays, fiction, poetry, film and architectural criticism have appeared in The Best American Short Stories, The Best American Essays, The Paris Review, Harper's, Vogue, Esquire, New York Times, Harvard Educational Review, Conde Nast Traveler, and many other periodicals and anthologies. He has been awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, a New York Public Library Center for Scholars and Writers Fellowship, two National Endowment for the Arts grants, and two New York Foundation for the Arts grants. After working with children for twelve years as a writer in the schools, he taught creative writing and literature at Fordham, Cooper Union, University of Houston, and New York University. He currently holds the John Cranford Adams Chair at Hofstra University, and also teaches in the MFA graduate programs at Columbia, the New School and Bennington.

Reviews

[Sofia · Rating 4 out of 5]

The pieces in this anthology are quintessential vignettes that illuminate a lot of really impactful and insightful aspects of New York. It's a pretty solid collection, each piece has some sort of significance, whether it be historical, stylistic, or even in the way the text reflects the city and the themes it tries to isolate. A very interesting read!

[Bridget Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The ragged, slate-blue cumulus clouds that gathered over the horizon left open patches for the light of the waning sun to shine through, and finally, as I reached the middle of the Brooklyn Bridge, the sunlight spread across the sky, forming a halo around the jagged mountain of skyscrapers, with the darkened loft buildings and warehouses huddling below in the foreground. The towers topped by the golden pinnacles of the new Woolworth Building, still caught the light as it began to ebb away. Three-quarters of the way across the Bridge I saw the skyscrapers in the deepening darkness become slowly honeycombed with lights until, before I reached the Manhattan end, these buildings piled up in a dazzling mass against the indigo sky." - Lewis Mumford, "Sketches From Life"

"Writing New York: A Literary Anthology" is an intimidating, massive chunk of a book, fitting for its subject, New York City. The book is 1,050 pages. But, the journey is well worth it. New York City has the most interesting, complicated, horrible, and wonderful past of any other city in the U.S., and all writers who spend time there, whether they cut their teeth on the subway or are just passing through, have a strong opinion of it. Beginning with the observations of Washington Irving and snaking through history up to the point of this anthology's publication in the 1990's, the reader is invited into the steely streets and the private moments of people's lives. Dark and dreadful tenements, smoky nightclubs, back alleys, Battery Park, Coney Island, the Brooklyn Ferry, Harlem, the 1939 World's Fair. It's all here and waiting. Writers like Charles Dickens, Edgar Allen Poe, Walt Whitman, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Langston Hughes, E.B. White, William Carlos Williams, Alfred Kazin, Mario Puzo, Joan Didion, Allen Ginsberg, Elizabeth Hardwick, Lewis Mumford, Ralph Ellison, and Vivian Gornick, along with many others, share their memories of this great city and teach us about its past and its character along the way.

It was a challenge to get through, taking me over a month, but when I read the last page, I found myself both surprised and a little sad. I feel like I was there with these people, experiencing what they were and seeing New York through their eyes. Their memories are now a part of me. Even though this was a book I checked out from the library before the pandemic hit, I plan to purchase a copy of it for my own shelves. My only regret is that it's over.

[Jennifer Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Epic love letter to my favorite city.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely looking forward to reading this. The astounding selection of authors shows great range. The ones you'd expect are all there- Fitzgerald, Whitman, Cheever. But there are also awesome and unexpected faces to show up- Celine, Gorky and Helen Keller.

[Takipsilim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gems abound in this tribute to the greatest of cities.

[Brian]

An amazing and exhaustive collection of NY stories. I keep checking it out from the library: must buy a copy.

[Carl · Rating 5 out of 5]

The vast city of Manhattan. The vast literature in this book. Ok, I admit. I've read about 3/4 of the book and it is a great collection that charts the evolution of this city. Yes, I will finish it. But there are other books to dip into from cover to cover.

[Jackie Shea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some of the best New York authors. Great visuals and feelings on living in New York and leaving New York.

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrific portrait of NYC from one the Juvenal of our era.

[Tammy]

810.8 Wri

[Scott Sandberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fabulous collection of stories focused on the greatest city in the world!

[Andrew Kosenko · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice and tasteful collection of writing, with New York as its main character.

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book for grazing. Among other things, made me want to read a lot more from these two authors: (1) Joseph Mitchell, a longtime New Yorker writer. This collection has “Up in the Old Hotel,” about Sloppy Louie’s, a restaurant that used to operate near the Fulton Fish Market. I’ve previously read “Mr. Hunter’s Grave,” about wandering around rural communities on Staten Island. (2) Kate Simon, author of the memoir Bronx Primitive. From an excerpt in the book:

From what I could see, there was no Love on the block, nor even its fairy-tale end, Marriage. We had only Being Married, and that included the kids, a big crowded barrel with a family name stamped on it.

And another one:

In none of my assiduous eavesdropping on the street did I ever hear any mention of unhappy marriage or happy marriage. Married was married. Although a Jewish divorce was a singularly easy matter except for the disgrace it carried, the Jewish women were as firmly imbedded in their marriages as the Catholic. A divorce was as unthinkable as adultery or lipstick.