海角大神

When it comes to essay anthologies, there鈥檚 a tradition so iron-clad and long-standing that it鈥檚 remarkably daring of editor Phillip Lopate, in the foreword of 鈥淭he Glorious American Essay: One Hundred Essays from Colonial Times to the Present,鈥� to natter for 16 whole pages before he gets around to asking 鈥淏ut wait: what is an essay?鈥�

This question is practically constitutionally required when writing about essays. In a narrative tradition going all the way back through Montaigne to Plutarch, editors, publishers, and a whole miscellany of intellectuals have automatically raised Deep Existential Questions in their introductions. The essay form has so many fundamental identity problems you鈥檇 expect it to wear Goth eyeliner and moodily refuse to leave its room for family meals.

Given all this confusion, surely it鈥檚 long since time to settle the question. So, for the record: an essay is a literary set of ruminations that can be read in one sitting. See? Easy-peasy. It鈥檚 Samuel Johnson鈥檚 鈥渓oose sally of mind鈥� with just a few common-sense parameters.

鈥淟iterary鈥� 鈥� written to be read rather than declaimed 鈥� is a key word here. Therefore Lopate鈥檚 decision to include explicitly nonliterary works such as speeches (Elizabeth Cady Stanton鈥檚 magnificent 1892 speech 鈥淭he Solitude of Self,鈥� for instance, or Martin Luther King Jr.鈥檚 rousing 鈥淏eyond Vietnam鈥� from 1967) does, strictly speaking, cross his own parameters.

Another crucial word in this definition is 鈥渞uminations.鈥� Something excessively structured or programmatic should also be out-of-bounds. Yet 鈥淭he Glorious American Essay鈥� includes very methodical efforts like Alexander Hamilton鈥檚 鈥淔ederalist No. 1鈥� or 鈥淭he Subjective Necessity of Social Settlements,鈥� a paper presented by Jane Addams in 1892.

Same goes for 鈥渋n one sitting,鈥� which should have overruled Lopate鈥檚 decision to include excerpts from longer works like 鈥淭he Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table鈥� by Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. or 鈥淲oman in the Nineteenth Century鈥� by Margaret Fuller. Worthy as these passages are, they weren鈥檛 conceived as stand-alone essays, so they shouldn鈥檛 be taking up space that could have gone to things that were.

But Lopate admits that he broadened his admission standards for 鈥淭he Glorious American Essay鈥� to include 鈥渆very type of the beast,鈥� and that makes it invariably fascinating reading. Even if readers only pay attention to entries that align with the aforementioned definition, there鈥檚 an almost embarrassing abundance of riches in these 900-plus pages. Readers of Lopate鈥檚 seminal 1994 anthology 鈥淭he Art of the Personal Essay鈥� will already be familiar with his skill at picking pieces that perfectly offset and interrogate each other. Diving into one of his collections is always a delightful experience that involves encountering even the most familiar selections as if for the first time.

Inevitably for such a collection, there鈥檚 a bit of Emerson鈥檚 quasi-mystical flapdoodle, this time the essay 鈥淓xperience鈥� (鈥淚 clap my hands in infantine joy and amazement, ... old with the love and homage of innumerable ages, young with the life of life, the sunbright Mecca of the desert,鈥� etc.). There鈥檚 鈥淥f Our Spiritual Strivings鈥� by W.E.B. Du Bois, with his call for decency for the Black American: 鈥淗e simply wishes to make it possible for a man to be both a Negro and an American, without being cursed and spit upon by his fellows, without having the doors of Opportunity closed roughly in his face.鈥�

Wonderfully, there鈥檚 Audre Lorde鈥檚 electrifying 鈥淭he Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House鈥� (technically a lecture, but we鈥檙e playing by Lopate鈥檚 loose rules here) and also poor forgotten Theodore Dreiser鈥檚 brief, passionate hymn of praise to New York, 鈥淭he City of My Dreams鈥� (鈥淎 May or June moon will be hanging like a burnished silver disc between the high walls aloft鈥�). Like so many essay anthology editors before him, Lopate includes here the 1741 sermon 鈥淪inners in the Hands of an Angry God鈥� by Jonathan Edwards, perhaps the single most demented piece of writing ever produced on this continent.

Back in 2016 editor John D'Agata likewise included 鈥淪inners in the Hands of the Angry God鈥� in his anthology 鈥淭he Making of the American Essay,鈥� which was the concluding volume in a trilogy of essay anthologies designed both to chart the essay鈥檚 development and to push its boundaries. And even though he calls editing an anthology 鈥渁 chump鈥檚 game,鈥� Lopate intends 鈥淭he Glorious American Essay鈥� to be the first installment in another essay trilogy. So there鈥檒l be plenty more room for beasts of all kinds, thankfully.