Becoming a Great Essayist

by Jennifer Cognard-Black

If you have a clever anecdote, an interesting memory, a new way to explain how something works, or an opinion on a social or political issue, then you have an essay in you. Unlike a novel, history book, or scientific publication, essays provide you with the versatility to express all the various facets that make you you. The concise and direct nature of an essay means that you may tap in to your sense of wit, share your individual point of view, persuade others to your perspective, and record a part of your memories for future generations in as many distinct essay forms as you wish. The essay is, above all else, one of the most profoundly personal outlets for writing.

Discover the keys to unlocking your potential in essay writing with Becoming a Great Essayist. These 24 illuminating lectures explore numerous genres or types of essays, challenge you with stimulating writing prompts, and provide insights into how to get to know yourself like never before so that you may write honest, compelling, and great essays. And because essays are so flexible in their style and function, the skills you build writing great essays may be applied to almost all other forms of writing.

While the goal of this course is to provide you with fundamental abilities that will improve your essays, the skills you will learn also provide a foundation to develop any writing project you undertake. This is an unrivalled opportunity to advance your critical and creative thinking skills, enhance your ability to master a strong and persuasive style, and, most importantly, get to know your own inner voice.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Audiobook, Essays, Education, Reference, Academic

24 pages, Audio CD

Published January 1, 2016

Reviews

[Wiebke (1book1review) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I need to put a disclaimer here, I went into this to learn more about essays, not about writing essays.
Essays are the most confusing form of literature for me and this course definitely helped me understand them better. I didn't attempt to do any of the exercises but I felt to really improve on essay writing there weren't enough.
So, if you want to learn more about essays I can highly recommend it. If you already know a lot about different essay types and essay writing this might not help you as much as you would like. But it was easy to listen to.

[Cary · Rating 2 out of 5]

I find The Great Courses to be pretty hit or miss. Some are excellent, engaging, and even fun. Others are merely ok, boring, and even tedious. This one falls in the latter group.

The content is basic, which in and of itself is fine -- everyone needs to grasp the basics of a subject first. My only gripe here is that I think the title misleads on this point. There are surely a couple intermediate steps between being a shitty essayist and a great one, and sticking 'great' in the title implies something beyond the basics.

Far worse is that it's not engaging in any way (at least to me). I'm also not a big fan of a lecturer drawing so much on their own work. Some is fine, and getting the first-person view of a essayist and their struggles with writing and the reactions to more personal essays is of great value. But Cognard-Black draws upon her own work too much for my tastes.

In the end, this TGC has some good content for beginners willing to push through the tedium, but most essayists with more than a little experience won't get enough from it to offset the negatives.

[Marci · Rating 1 out of 5]

At the point when this psycho started talking about actively trying to make her daughter afraid, I was out. Whoever paid this psychopath needs to be fired. Did not finish.

[Britt · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a writing teacher, I should prob be reading more books like this every year, especially before I prepare to spend the next 40 weeks teaching these concepts to my teenage students. I'm glad I finally bit the bullet and listened to this. Though a bit dry, it was really a solid overview of non-fiction writing elements. While I read this mostly as a review to sharpen my memory before I unit plan, I did gain a few new tidbits of information that I can use in the classroom. I also got a ton of new writers to add to my non-fiction reading list (not that it needed more names, but whatevs). I listened to this on Audible, usually while driving or walking, so I didn't get a chance to go back and do any of the writing practice prompts. Maybe next summer I'll order the paper copy from the library and actually draft out a few of the exercises. Maybe.

[Ryk Stanton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I do not have very much to say about this book. I went back and forth as to whether to give it three stars or four, and I decided to opt for four because there are several passages in the book that are particularly well done if one wishes to become an essay writer.

This is not for college essays, however, which is what I thought it was. These are more for creative writing essayists, like David Sedaris.

Again, I do not have very much to say one way or the other. It was interesting, but it was not necessarily gripping.

[Titus Hjelm · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author has a pleasant voice and discusses rather predictable topics if you've ever read a nonfiction writing guide before. The best bits are where she discusses editing her own work or her students' developing essays.

[Yaaresse · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was drawn to this when our local library featured a teaser of it on their site. In that, she compared essays by Ellen Meloy (one of my favorites "finds" of a couple years ago) and Jonathan Swift.

Found this a good lecture series with an engaging presenter. While it is targeted toward those wishing to write essays, it's also interesting just to listen to for the examples of essays throughout history. It was hard to resist not putting many of the materials she cited on my already impossibly long to-read list.

[Leona · Rating 1 out of 5]

fucking shit

[Menglong Youk · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Becoming a Great Essayist" is a twenty-four-lecture course which could help essayists in essentially all languages to break free from the shackle of the traditional method that is slowly and anonymously slaughtering their creativity. The course didn't dived deep to encounter with my expectations, but I have to give some credits to some lectures that did a great job at presenting the new perspective on some aspects that I used to consider negligible, enabling me to pour my emotions and descriptions into what I write, making it appear more connecting and vivid. However, I found some part boring, but maybe I didn't pay enough attention.

Overall, I would recommend this course to you if you want to learn to write in a way that is beyond what the traditional method can offer you.

[Dennis Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Becoming a Great Essayist by Jennifer Cognard-Black is a pleasant, moderately entertaining and educational survey on essay writing. You get the impression that Black loves her subject, but it also becomes clear that she has certain expectations on writing that veer heavily into the realm of the literary and the recriminatory. Essays that do not meet her criteria are mere tirades, dishonest to the genre, or an exercise in narcissism. It is clear that her approach tends towards the "purple prose" variety of writing where every sentences bleeds adverb, imagery, metaphor, and uncommon phrases. More simple, straight forward essays are not really her wheelhouse, and it is unclear how she approaches any type of politics that is not meant to implicate and incriminate the writer in the subject of their writing. Her specialty is essay writing on social issues, and this affects her essay choice. Some of her choices are powerful, but every now and then the absence of other more famous and potentially more impactful essays from the selection becomes heavy when you reflect on any one selection. For what it is, it is rather enjoyable, harmless fluff that gives good tips every now and again for how to write. There were a couple of missed opportunities though.

I would recommend this to those who have an inner MFA resting in their writer's soul. Otherwise, your mileage may vary.

[Oscar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Skarp bog om historiefortælling, og håndværket bag. her bliver der delt ud af erfaringer, stillet øvelser til læseren og der optræder konkrete eksempler på godt formidlet litteratur såvel som gennemførte film scener, hvorfor det fungere og hvorfor det ikke fungere. Bogen bliver aldrig belærende og den er skrevet i en tone der hverken prøver at sælge dig den hemmelig opskrift, eller være prætentiøst. Forfatteren er ydmyg, og fortæller bare hvad han har observeret i sine år som profesionel forfatter. Min tilgang til manuskriptskrivning har ændret sig efter, at have lyttet bogen til ende, og jeg er nu stærkt overbevist om, alt manuskriptdelen læner sig tættere op, af det at være forfatter end at være filmskaber - der skal nok være nogen der er klogere der vil kunne sige mig i mod.

[Darrell McCauley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want to learn to write, and this course encouraged me to consider essays as a mode of practice. I felt like I was taught instead of lectured. Each lesson introduced a new kind of essay and challenged me to pause between lessons to practice. I enjoyed the professor's voice. It was not grating or irritating enough to lead to unfair assumptions about her private affairs, which is not always the case with female Great Courses lecturers. I'm not a fan of the professor's politics or her worldview, but that was easy to overlook. She seems like a person I would not mind sitting under in a class or enjoying coffee together.

[Bill Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was just looking for another lecture from The Great Courses series and this one looked like it would be okay. It was great. Well organized and with many great examples, I learned a lot. I was disappointed it was due back at the library the day I finished and, because someone must have put a "hold" on it, I could not renew. I will have to get it back so I can try some of the exercises Cognard-Black suggested, which I could not do while listening to the CD as I was driving. I feel like I should write a real essay, given the contents of the course, but this will have to do for now.

[Ceciliana Chispa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grow your writing exponentially!
Jennifer Cognard-Black does a fantastic job of explaining different styles of essays. She explains how to approach each.
I look forward to applying her tools to my writing. I am confident it will help me reach a deeper understanding of my inner voice. This book has also helped me become a stronger reader with more extraordinary analytical skills. Now I can better hear the inner voices of the authors I admire, read, and follow—a must-read for all curious writers and readers.

[Henrik Maler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unfortunately, Jennifer Cognard-Black does not explore in detail how to write philosophical or scientific essays, but rather the vast range of artistic kinds - which is awesome for everyone who is interested in those! Yet for me, this is the reason why it has not been very informative for my purposes.

[David Sweet · Rating 2 out of 5]

I actually returned the book. Not without merit and an excellent classification of different essay forms, I found the treatment a bit dull for my taste. I appreciate the honesty and knowledge of the subject. I just felt bored.

[ccstan99 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of interesting and useful tips on how to explore different forms of writing. Would love to go back and try out more of the exercises. Makes me want to take writing a bit more serious... maybe someday...

[Miroslav Balint-Feudvarski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not bad. Some parts were better than the other.

[Lora Covrett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good general writing exercises even if you are not an essayist. A lot of information to take notes on around the middle.

[Tony Carmona · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wonderful audio book for any aspiring writer. It describes all forms of writing and analyzes famous essays written in the past and present.

[Dominique · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think listening to this Great Course I learned more about the different kinds of essays than I did about actually writing them. It is a good overview all the same.

[Jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quickly becoming addicted to The Great Courses séries on Audible.

[Lina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wealth of information and very difficult to absorb.

[Brian Kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Should be “Becoming a Liberal Essayist”

[S. Kallahan · Rating 2 out of 5]

First few episodes are good, but soon became a bit dull. Mostly stories about writing, rather than tips on writing. Some nuggets that can be dug out if you're willing to wade through.

[Chris Osantowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this a lot. There was a lot of good practical steps to take to improve your writing

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

The great courses provide a lot of information in a condensed manner that is convenient and easy to follow. It is worth the time invested to read.

[Tammam Aloudat · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pretty good set of lectures, I would probably give it 3.5 stars. It is a little limited in the examples although some of them are pretty good. And it is a little too North American oriented.

[Art · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was hoping for something to help me teach essay writing to my 101 class. While there were a lot of good ideas and advice for essay writing, I feel some of this was a bit more advanced.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I purchased this to sharpen my blogging skills for some upcoming long form pieces that will eventually become book. I really enjoyed and learned from this format and will probably purchase more.