The Contemporary American Essay

by Phillip Lopate

A dazzling anthology of essays by some of the best writers of the past quarter century—from Barry Lopez and Margo Jefferson to David Sedaris and Samantha Irby—selected by acclaimed essayist Phillip Lopate.

The first decades of the twenty-first century have witnessed a blossoming of creative nonfiction. In this extraordinary collection, Phillip Lopate gathers essays by forty-seven of America’s best contemporary writers, mingling long-established eminences with newer voices and making room for a wide variety of perspectives and styles. The Contemporary American Essay is a monument to a remarkably adaptable form and a treat for anyone who loves fantastic writing.

Hilton Als • Nicholson Baker • Thomas Beller • Sven Birkerts • Eula Biss • Mary Cappello • Anne Carson • Terry Castle • Alexander Chee • Teju Cole • Bernard Cooper • Sloane Crosley • Charles D’Ambrosio • Meghan Daum • Brian Doyle • Geoff Dyer • Lina Ferreira • Lynn Freed • Rivka Galchen • Ross Gay • Louise Glück • Emily Fox Gordon • Patricia Hampl • Aleksandar Hemon • Samantha Irby • Leslie Jamison • Margo Jefferson • Laura Kipnis • David Lazar • Yiyun Li • Phillip Lopate • Barry Lopez • Thomas Lynch • John McPhee • Ander Monson • Eileen Myles • Maggie Nelson • Meghan O’Gieblyn • Joyce Carol Oates • Darryl Pinckney • Lia Purpura • Karen Russell • David Sedaris • Shifra Sharlin • David Shields • Floyd Skloot • Rebecca Solnit • Clifford Thompson • Wesley Yang

Genres: Essays, Nonfiction, Anthologies, Short Stories

640 pages, Paperback

First published August 3, 2021

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

[Zibby Owens · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is part two of a three-set anthology of the American essay. The first one was "The Glorious American Essay," which was a whole arc of the American essay. This one, The Golden Age, concentrates on the post-war period, 1945 to 1970. I was interested in how the author analyzed the rise and fall of the essay in American history and how he linked essays, liberalism, and historical moments, with how this art form has shifted over time. I liked how in the introduction, the author referenced the black essay and talked about all the ways different voices have been represented over time and what that can do for communities at large.

The essays give you a peek into someone's consciousness. With Joan Didion and Mary McCarthy, we get to see even what they were doing at their desk. Even with the more literary or intellectual essays, there was something so personal about them. I love this anthology because you don't have to read it from cover to cover or from start to finish. You can jump around to something you think would be enjoyable. This book offers a smörgåsbord of different voices, which makes it as inclusive as possible.

To listen to my interview with the author, go to my podcast at:
https://zibbyowens.com/transcript/phi...

[Brandon Westlake · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lopate's book is a third in a series that collects America essays. I have read the first, and considered it a great collection. This one also is great, but takes from much more recent work. There is something here for everyone. While the collection is diverse in perspective and in content, you will set it down with many of the essays still ringing in your mind.

This is a book that will make you think more than you expect it to; it challenges some of the subtle and not so subtle intricacies of human everyday life.

It's hard to compare this too much to the first volume, as I see that as a collection of historical sources. This speaks to us too, as Americans, looking at ourselves today.

[Samy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Something for everyone in here and a LOT of things for me 😋

[Pamela · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one volume of three of collected American essays all edited by Philip Lopate, the other two books being: The Glorious American Essay: One Hundred Essays from Colonial Times to the Present and The Golden Age of the American Essay: 1945-1970.

This book includes 49 essays and an introduction by Lopate. All were published in the last two-decades, with the oldest being published in 1999.

While most follow the traditional form of an essay, several do not. It is the exploration of the form as well as subject matter that makes up this volume, being quite diverse. Two of the inclusions were excerpts from larger works, and many, if not most, are pulled from a book of essays (according to the copyright permissions listed in the back.) I did wish that information was included with the title, year and where the work first appeared, instead of relying on flipping back to the end with each entry.

As with most anthologies there are some entries that speak to the reader more than others. The essays were also of varying lengths, with some being just a few pages and others reaching over twenty. Generally the average was closer to fourteen pages, which was long enough to dive deeply into a topic for a moment. Some are striking and will stay with you for a while.

I look forward to reading the other two volumes in the series.

[Wayne Sutton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great collection

This was a great collection! Relevant to modern times and thought provoking. I am really looking forward to reading his other collections.

[Craig Barner · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Contemporary American Essay is a meaty, 50-essay collection that left me heartened about my own writing. Several essays on writing is the highlight. There is a lot of wisdom for budding writers from contributors that include John McPhee, Patricia Hampl and Lynn Freed. A contributor to New Yorker, McPhee in his essay "Draft No. 4" writes about revision, doubt and process. His advice to use a dictionary as a thesaurus with an actual thesaurus as a secondary source might be the best tidbit about writing I have encountered in awhile. McPhee's is the wisest piece on writing I have read in a long time.

Another highlight was the essay "Experience Necessary" by Phillip Lopate, who edits the entire collection and provides an introduction to it. He bases his piece on "Of Experience", an piece written by Michel de Montaigne almost 500 years ago. Lopate calls it the greatest essay ever written -- a point I agree with -- by the best essayist in history. Lopate's wry piece sums up his work and and life and adopts the meandering but humorous of Montaigne.

Other than writing, there are several excellent pieces on bagel production, San Quentin Prison and homeschooling.

The collection is a bit uneven with some essays having no effect on me at all, but readers will be glad to dive into this collection. Essay reading is among the best-kept secrets in literature and well worth the time.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this book a year ago and just finished it. Always a pleasure to read such different styles, topics, and authors, like watching YouTube, hahaha jk. I appreciated the selection of styles and different levels of experimenting with the personal essay as a genre. I think it was a successful collection for its diversity of voices and because when I ask what makes the essay I'm reading an American essay, I can usually find an answer in the work. Essays that stuck out to me were, Portrait of the Bagel as a Young Man, Dear Friend, from My Life I write to You in Your Life, A Visit to San Quentin, Against "Gunmetal", Differences: Sex, Separateness & Marriage, This Old House.

[pjospoul]

Some duds which didn't work for me, but I enjoyed this collection on the whole.

[Eve Leupold · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not sure why I was so set on finishing this, but I did, so here we are.

A few kind of weren’t worth my time. Some were great.

My favorite: Ann; Death and the Maiden

[Grace Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

such a good collection of essays!! read this anthology for class reading/writing literary nonfiction