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Against Joie de Vivre: Personal Essays
By turns humorous, learned, celebratory, and elegiac, Lopate displays a keen intelligence and a flair for language that turn bits of common, everyday life into resonant narrative. This collection maintains a conversational charm while taking the contemporary personal essay to a new level of complexity and candor.
Paperback, 336 pages
Published
December 1st 2008
by UNP - Bison Books
(first published 1989)
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Peter Weissman
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readers who like personal essays
My daughter bought me this book for my birthday, and I'm glad she did, as was she, since she has a hard time finding things a curmudgeon like myself will appreciate (see the essay "Against Joie de Vivre," which led her to believe I'd enjoy this book).
Given the nature of the personal essay, which the author discusses in "What Happened to the Personal Essay?" there were of course some pieces I preferred to others. He stirred my interest, for example, in Montaigne an...more
Given the nature of the personal essay, which the author discusses in "What Happened to the Personal Essay?" there were of course some pieces I preferred to others. He stirred my interest, for example, in Montaigne an...more
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I liked some of these, especially "Chekhov for children," which was my favorite, and "Suicide of a teacher," which was very powerful. Others I liked were "Never live above your landlord," "Modern friendships," "Upstairs neighbors," and "Reflections on subletting." I didn't find any of the others all that interesting, at least not that I recall now looking back over the table of contents at their titles. (There are 19 essays in here.)
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I go back and forth between three and four stars, but a few of these were really good. Some I could have done without, but the momentum picks up in the middle with Chekhov for Children and Houston Hide-and-Seek.
Quite a range here in this collection of personal essays. Slow to start, the author hits his stride with an essay about teaching and another about living in Houston.
Been awhile since I've read these essays. But he's good.
I'd place him alongside Anne Fadiman, also MFK Fisher, as among my favorite essayists.
I'd place him alongside Anne Fadiman, also MFK Fisher, as among my favorite essayists.
I am inspired by this new way to write in a confessional mode.
A collection of perfectly personal essays.
Bobbi
marked it as to-read
Annie
marked it as to-read
Paulo Fehlauer
marked it as to-read
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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, E...more
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