The Norton Book of Personal Essays

by Joseph Epstein

In this anthology of twentieth-century essays, some of our most-admired American and British writers express their lively, candid, entertaining, thoughtful, and—above all—various opinions. Topics range from Tangier to a lake in Maine, from racial conflict to sky diving, from the expectations we bring to travel to the athletics of the table. The essays are selected and introduced by Joseph Epstein, himself a leading contemporary practitioner of the form. Most prominent in each essay is the distinctive style of the essayist; style, as Epstein points out in his introduction, is not only what keeps literature alive but also a personal way of looking at the world.

Blending the profound and the buoyant, the traditional and the new, the expected and the surprising, The Norton Book of Personal Essays offers a basketful of delights sure to find a permanent place on readers' shelves. Mark Twain, Max Beerbohm, Virginia Woolf, Willa Cather, M. F. K. Fisher, F. Scott Fitzgerald, E. B. White, Oliver Sacks, H. L. Mencken, Truman Capote, and Flannery O'Connor are among the contributors to this volume. The chief principle of selection has been the pleasure that essays, operating at their highest power, always give.

Genres: Essays, Nonfiction, Anthologies

480 pages, Hardcover

First published March 17, 1997

About the author

Joseph Epstein is the author of, among other books, Snobbery, Friendship, and Fabulous Small Jews. He has been editor of American Scholar and has written for the New Yorker, the Atlantic, Commentary, Town and Country, and other magazines.

Reviews

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not every essay was to my liking or even interested me, but there were some true gems in here. I delighted in essays by Shelby Steele, VS Naipaul, Oliver Sacks and James Baldwin, to name a few. It's a lovely book to have on hand for those times when you feel like reading about an observation made by a gifted author.

[Debra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve always been a fan of the personal essay, and agree with editor Joseph Epstein’s statement that the personal essay (or familiar essay) is a form of discovery; a way of sharing where one stands on complex issues, questions, and subjects. Personal essays can also be poignant reflections about love, regret and loss, or on something fun such as how to eat an ice cream cone.

The collection includes a wide range of topics from a fondly remembered general store, to turning forty, to reminisces of family members, friends, or a discussion of societal issues. The essays start with the oldest contributor, Mark Twain, born in 1835 and end with the youngest contributor, Amy Tan, born in 1952. It’s an interesting way to present a collection because while the decades and topics differ greatly, the authors’ skill in sharing thoughts so eloquently is a common thread.

I was delighted to come across stunning essays from writers I’d never read before. For instance, Willa Cather’s “A Chance Meeting” is a gorgeous piece about a chance encounter with an older woman at a hotel, which turns into something quite special. Dorothy Parker’s essay on turning forty is hilarious, as is L. Rust Hills’ piece on eating an ice cream cone. F. Scott Fitzgerald, Truman Capote, Doris Lessing, Eudora Welty, and many others are also well worth reading. In fact, out of the 53 essays encompassing 468 pages, only two or three didn’t interest me. If you’re a fan of personal essays, this book is a must-read. You’ll learn a lot from the greats.

[Ronald Wise · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of 54 twentieth-century essays, starting with “The Personal Essay: A Form of Discovery” in which contributing editor Joseph Epstein provides an enlightening explanation of what constitutes a personal essay and its literary value. Of the essays I especially enjoyed were: “A Chance Meeting” by Willa Cather; “St. Augustine and the Bullfight” by Katherine Anne Porter; “The Middle or Blue Period” by Dorothy Parker; “Sleeping and Waking” by F. Scott Fitzgerald; “The Quest of Beer” by Frank O’Connor; “The Angry Winter” by Loren Eiseley; “The Flaw” by M. F. K. Fisher; “My Father" by Doris Lessing; “Stranger in the Village” by James Baldwin; “The Vanishing Act” by Dan Jacobson; “I Like a Gershwin Tune” by Joseph Epstein; and “On Being Black and Middle Class” by Shelby Steele.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

The bad news: it's no Lopate. The good news: it's no Lopate. (Philip Lopate edited the anthology that, apparently, every consciencious essayist must read and/or teach, which is heavy in every sense, often long-winded, and occasionally dry.) The essays in this anthology were chosen for the unlikelihood of their appearing in other anthologies, which say something too about their quality. I'm glad to see things I've never seen before, but, like the deleted scenes on any DVD, there's a reason we haven't seen them before. That pretty much sums it up. If you want essays, read The Next American Essay, edited by John D'Agata, instead.

[Brandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can only assume that the essays I didn't read in this collection are as good as the ones I did, so I'll give it 4 stars. This is a Norton anthology, though, which means it's just too long to be read in its entirety. I tried skipping around, then realized I was mostly just skipping. Ah, well.

[Jenni · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much love for these essays, and so much admiration for these geniuses.

[Logan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wide collection of essays. I really liked Mark Twain's and Willa Cather's and was surprised by how much I liked some of the other author's who were completely unknown to me, especially Jean Hollander's and Joan Didion's -- which says more about my limited literary experience than it does about their prolific and impressive writing careers. Many of the essays continue to stick with me, even if I have forgotten the author's or titles, such as one about how to eat an ice cream cone, one that mentioned the strength of weasel's jaws, one that explained the benefits of a hickory hammer handle, and a harrowing story about a hiker completing destroying his leg during a mountain accident.

Some essays were funny, some very touching, some brought deep thoughts.

I particularly liked the editor's decision to put the essays in chronological order based on the author's birth/age, because I think that gave an excellent opportunity to see how things changed over time, while also helping to anchor the topics with a historical reference point.

[Bowie Rowan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've really enjoyed reading essays from this collection over the years. Favorites include: "A Chance Meeting" by Willa Cather, "How It Feels to Be Colored Me" by Zora Neale Hurston, "My Father" by Doris Lessing, "On Keeping a Notebook" by Joan Didion, and "Mother Tongue" by Amy Tan.

[Joelle Lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many of the writers I read in Best American Essays were also featured in here, with different pieces. I enjoyed hearing more of their voices; their essays remained true to their identities yet also revealed more of their souls.

[Tuck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great collection from Norton, has many classic essays. Editor Epstein calls them an accidental type in that hardly anyone sets out to BE a personal essayists, or that a writer is a better essayist than insert here_____ poet, novelists, historian, journalist etc etc. So in this collection you can read mark twain , Beerbohm, betrand Russell, willa cather, Virginia woolf, Dorothy parker, Cynthia ozick, m f k fisher, amy tan, and about 80 others. Essays range from reminisces from family and childhood, to race, class, education, weasels, music, broken legs, travel, war, bars, etc etc. a must read for essay fans. In the HW Wilson Public Library Catalog. of note, many of the essays were taken from "commentary" magazine, which epstein also edits (owns?) and epstein also included one of his own essays in this book of essays, but it was a good essay, perhaps one of the best, so we'll let him slide.

[Annabelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

You can always rely on Norton to come up with the neatest compilations, and I would not have hedged in getting this, even if it wasn't edited by my favorite essayist. I've only read a tiny handful of the entries here before, but like the editor says, he tried "not too allow too much duplication." Still, rereading them was a delight. The ones which took my fancy: Willa Cather, Winston Churchill, A.J. Liebling, Graham Greene, Flannery O'Connor, Dan Jacobson, and Bruce Chatwin. My favorites: Loren Eiseley's "The Angry Winter" and JE's "I Like a Gershwin Tune." And a quote from Vicki Hearne's piece will is bound to be parroted by me: "another dog, same breed, as soon as possible." Years, months, perhaps just weeks or days from now, I'll be scouring my bookshelves just to reread these two excellent essays. The editor mentions, at the onset of the book, how the essay is a form of discovery. If my favorites are any indication, I see it more of a serendipitous rediscovery.

[Bruce · Rating 3 out of 5]

As I read these essays, I realized just what a broad spectrum of writing can be represented by the word "essay." Of those I read, most can be likened to a transcription of a skilled raconteur's anecdote; an experience is related rather than an idea explored in the tradition of the classical essay. Most are quite interesting, amusing (my favorite in this respect is Flannery O'Connor's "The King of the Birds") and filled with significant meaning (e.g., James Baldwin's "A Stranger in the Village"), but lack sufficient substance.

In his introduction, Joseph Epstein denigrated the essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson as "bloated, vatic, never less than pompous." By the standards of an after-dinner yarn spinner, perhaps. But Emerson had more more intriguing and fruitful ideas in his little finger than in the whole of The Norton Book of Personal Essays.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fine collection of over fifty good to great personal essays edited by Joseph Epstein. None are too long or too personal, all are revealing and many are funny. They open up other individuals and/or the authors themselves and were delightful to dip into over the last weeks. I will be dipping back into it again I am sure. My complaints are that more of the essays were good than great and that no introductions to the authors were provided - many of the names were familiar, but many were not. I suppose that is what the internet is for these days, but I would have preferred to have heard Epstein's take on the authors included.

[Eve · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brilliant collection of essays by some of the finest writers to grace the pages of publications like The New Yorker and Harper, spanning the literary time from Mark Twain to Amy Tan. The diversity of experience and writing style could not be wider, and yet speaks directly to the reader of the common core of values of people everywhere. Highly recommend.

[Joanna Eleftheriou · Rating 5 out of 5]

Epstein writes beautifully, and has a canny sense of what an "essay" is and can be.

[Albie]

The Norton Book of Personal Essays (1997)

[Alex]

The Norton Book of Personal Essays (1997)

[Dana · Rating 4 out of 5]

A handful of essays make this book really great. Many were not so compelling.