The Contemporary American Essay by Phillip LopateMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
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.
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