Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
The Norton Book of Personal Essays
In this anthology of twentieth-century essays, some of our most-admired American and British writers express their lively, candid, entertaining, thoughtful, andabove allvarious 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 intr...more
Hardcover, 480 pages
Published
March 17th 1997
by W. W. Norton & Company
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
This book is not yet featured on Listopia.
Add this book to your favorite list »
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
73)
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 hav...more
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 childhoo...more
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 fa...more
The collection includes a wide range of topics from a fondly remembered general store, to turning forty, to reminisces of fa...more
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.
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 sup...more
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"),...more
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.
A handful of essays make this book really great. Many were not so compelling.
Feb 21, 2010
Alex
added it
The Norton Book of Personal Essays (1997)
Sep 14, 2009
Albie
added it
The Norton Book of Personal Essays (1997)
Solid anthology.
Epstein writes beautifully, and has a canny sense of what an "essay" is and can be.
So much love for these essays, and so much admiration for these geniuses.
Mar 24, 2013
Miao Liu
is currently reading it
Mar 18, 2013
Jurand
marked it as to-read
Mar 17, 2013
George Berguño
added it
Mar 05, 2013
Liv Lansdale
marked it as to-read
Feb 27, 2013
Darius Liddell
marked it as to-read
Jan 07, 2013
Joe Mcdermott
marked it as to-read
Nov 14, 2012
Knigel Holmes
marked it as to-read
Nov 10, 2012
Amanda Vanzile
marked it as to-read
Nov 02, 2012
Ralfy
marked it as to-read
Oct 25, 2012
Jonathan Freed
marked it as to-read
Sep 22, 2012
Reilly Ryan
marked it as to-read
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
