"The Hobart and William Smith Colleges literary journal, Seneca Review, recently released a special anthology, We Might As Well Call It The Lyric Essay, edited by John D'Agata '95, associate professor of English at the University of Iowa. The double issue was initially envisioned as a compilation of D'Agata's favorite essays from Seneca Review, in celebration of his 15th year as the magazine's lyric essay editor. But the project developed into a year-long course at Iowa in which D'Agata enlisted his students to help choose and edit an anthology to showcase the genre, if not define it." -- Publisher's website.
Edited by Philip Thody, translated by Ellen Conroy Kennedy. "Here now, for the first time in a complete English translation, we have Camus' three little volumes of essays, plus a selection of his critical comments on literature and his own place in it. As might be expected, the main interest of these writings is that they illuminate new facets of his usual subject matter."--The New York Times Book Review "...a new single work for American readers that stands among the very finest."--The Nation
What is a lyric essay? An essay that has a lyrical style? An essay that plays with form in a way that resembles poetry more than prose? Both of these? Or something else entirely? The works in this anthology show lyric essays rely more on intuition than exposition, use image more than narration, and question more than answer. But despite all this looseness, the lyric essay still has responsibilities—to try to reveal something, to play with ideas, or to show a shift in thinking, however subtle. The whole of a lyric essay adds up to more than the sum of its parts. In A Harp in the Stars, Randon Billings Noble has collected lyric essays written in four different forms—flash, segmented, braided, and hermit crab—from a range of diverse writers. The collection also includes a section of craft essays—lyric essays about lyric essays. And because lyric essays can be so difficult to pin down, each contributor has supplemented their work with a short meditation on this boundary-breaking form.
Essays from a Native American grandfather to help navigate life’s difficult experiences. Offered in the oral traditions of the Nez Perce, Native American writer W. S. Penn records the conversations he held with his granddaughter, lovingly referred to as "Bean," as he guided her toward adulthood while confronting society's interest in possessions, fairness, and status. Drawing on his own family history and Native mythology, Penn charts a way through life where each endeavor is a journey—an opportunity to love, to learn, or to interact—rather than the means to a prize at the end. Divided into five parts, Penn addresses topics such as the power of words, race and identity, school, and how to be. In the essay "In the Nick of Names," Penn takes an amused look at the words we use for people and how their power, real or imagined, can alter our perception of an entire group. "To Have and On Hold" is an essay about wanting to assimilate into a group but at the risk of losing a good bit of yourself. "A Harvest Moon" is a humorous anecdote about a Native grandfather visiting his granddaughter's classroom and the absurdities of being a professional Indian. "Not Nobody" uses "Be All that You Can Be Week" at Bean's school to reveal the lessons and advantages of being a "nobody." In "From Paper to Person," Penn imagines the joy that may come to Bean when she spends time with her Paper People—three-foot-tall drawings, mounted on stiff cardboard—and as she grows into a young woman like her mom, able to say she is a person who is happy with what she has and not sorry for what she doesn't. Comical and engaging, the essays in Raising Bean will appeal to readers of all backgrounds and interests, especially those with a curiosity in language, perception, humor, and the ways in which Native people guide their families and friends with stories.
The first craft guide to the lyric essay form, this book combines hybrid craft essays that embody the key elements discussed, with more traditional craft essays that review relevant lyric theory, craft and history. An orientation to a form that is critical and creative, practical and accessible, Heidi Czerwiec centers the lyric essay on the lyre, on lyric mode, focusing on the resonances of sound, silence and image at the level of language. With topics including sound effects, imagery development, lateral movement, white space, fragmentation, using poetic craft and forms, and pedagogy, this book connects the dots between lyric theory and practice, offering the beginnings of a critical framework for a form that has been vastly undertheorized until now. An essential guide to this exciting and popular hybrid form, Crafting the Lyric Essay will invigorate the study and writing of creative non-fiction.
"Philip’s questions are difficult, and of an intensity of insistence rarely achieved."— Erin Mouré, Books in Canada "Philip’s writing lives on a linguistic frontier where the essay and poem merge to create a new literary form, uniquely hers. These pieces are a pleasure to read— at once sensual and thought-provoking."— Robin C. Pacific "[Philip deploys] all thoughtful ways of making readers aware of how history is created. And how it is denied."— Canadian Materials
"Essay collection [that] delves into notions of how we are shaped by the land every bit as much as we shape it, eschewing easy ways of understanding and experiencing the world by investigating place as a malleable psychological and phenomenological force"--Author's website.
A NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS’ CHOICE NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY TIME , NPR, INSTYLE, AND GOOD HOUSEKEEPING “A sensational new book [that] tries to figure out whether it’s possible to live an ethical life in a capitalist society. . . . The results are enthralling.” —Associated Press A timely and arresting new look at affluence by the New York Times bestselling author, “one of the leading lights of the modern American essay.” —Financial Times “My adult life can be divided into two distinct parts,” Eula Biss writes, “the time before I owned a washing machine and the time after.” Having just purchased her first home, the poet and essayist now embarks on a provocative exploration of the value system she has bought into. Through a series of engaging exchanges—in libraries and laundromats, over barstools and backyard fences—she examines our assumptions about class and property and the ways we internalize the demands of capitalism. Described by the New York Times as a writer who “advances from all sides, like a chess player,” Biss offers an uncommonly immersive and deeply revealing new portrait of work and luxury, of accumulation and consumption, of the value of time and how we spend it. Ranging from IKEA to Beyoncé to Pokemon, Biss asks, of both herself and her class, “In what have we invested?”
Deluxe -- Thank You -- Pelham Road -- There Is No Mike Here -- Things People Said: An Essay in Seven Steps -- Temporary Talismans -- Six Hours from Anywhere You Want to Be -- No One Is Ordinary; Everyone Is Ordinary -- Ring Theory -- Saris and Sorrows -- Voice Texting with My Mother.