Best essays on writing
A masterclass for those who love reading literature and for those who aspire to write it. Then learn to read as a writer, to search out that hidden machinery, which it is the business of art to conceal and the business of the apprentice to comprehend. In The Hidden Machinery , critically acclaimed and New York Times bestselling author Margot Livesey offers a masterclass for those who love reading literature and for those who aspire to write it. Through close readings, arguments about craft, and personal essay, Livesey delves into the inner workings of fiction and considers how our stories and novels benefit from paying close attention to both great works of literature and to our own individual experiences. Her essays range in subject matter from navigating the shoals of research to creating characters that walk off the page, from how Flaubert came to write his first novel to how Jane Austen subverted romance in her last one.
10 of the Greatest Essays on Writing Ever Written
Harry Mount is a journalist, author and editor of the Notting Hill Editions Journal , which commissions a new essay every week. The latest series of essays are published this month. Buy Notting Hill Editions essays. Its parameters are so broad and slack that they encompass practically any shortish passage of non-fiction which makes a general argument.
But, still, you could write 50, words about yourself, and it could be an essay in every regard. Here are 10 that are exceptional in both departments. Not an original choice of writer, or of essay. But it would be churlish not to include the man who, more than any other writer over the last century, fine-tuned the form. He applied his essayistic touch to an extreme variety of subjects — the ideal pub, school stories, what makes England England - but this one, on how he became a writer, is my favourite.
The word "intellectual" often brings a lot of dull baggage with it. But Orwell's honesty and humour mean that you're never in danger of being bored. His four reasons for writing - aesthetic enthusiasm, historical impulse, political purpose, sheer egoism - still seem unassailably true today. You might call Gellhorn's account of Adolf Eichmann's trial in Jerusalem reportage.
But that just shows up the flexibility of the essay. A routine bit of reportage remains reportage; brilliant reportage leaps its chains and becomes an essay. Gellhorn's essay begins with a straight description of the conditions in the court, albeit an atmospheric, closely-observed description: "The air conditioning was too cold, and yet one sweated.
The seamlessly stitched combination of facts and thoughts becomes a compulsive essay. Evelyn Waugh considered life as a printer, cabinet-maker and carpenter before becoming a novelist. He maintained an interest in the visual arts throughout his life; this plea in defence of the classical orders of architecture appeared some time after his literary success began.
The essay is full of angry argument, deep architectural knowledge and lyrical description. Montaigne is regularly wheeled out as the father of the essay.
Debatable, I'd say — the baggy definition of the essay includes much older works. Still, as well as being early on the essay scene, Montaigne was a natural essay-writer. His essay on cannibalism introduces devices that crop up again and again among the essayists that followed through the centuries. Taking the cannibalism of the Tupinamba tribesmen of Brazil, he uses it as a general analogy for barbarism.
If you thought Steve Jobs's address to the graduating class of Stanford in was impressive, prepare to be even more deeply moved by Barrie's speech to the students of St Andrews University in , where he had been voted rector. Ostensibly about courage, the essay is really about how to deal with the loss of friends and brothers in the first world war; it's aimed at those "who still hear their cries [of the war dead] being blown across the links".
It opens up from the particular to the general, to the qualities needed to deal with such loss, and all with astonishing prescience: "By the time the next eruption comes it may be you who are responsible for it and your sons who are in the lava. Capote is best remembered for his novels, but his non-fiction was exceptional: acidly witty, to the point of nastiness; hyper-observational, to the point of even deeper nastiness. But what is more enjoyable — or, often, truer — than nastiness?
This is the essay-as-interview - in this case with Marlon Brando, at the height of his fame. There's a good deal of nastiness, and racism — "You come see Marron? But it also gives a rare insight into the perils of celebrity: of too big an entourage, of isolation, of too many appetites being too readily satisfied.
For dinner, Brando, on a diet, orders soup, beefsteak with French-fried potatoes, three supplementary vegetables, a side dish of spaghetti, rolls and butter, a bottle of sake, salad, and cheese and crackers. Extremely well-known, but that doesn't take away from the effectiveness of Swift's satirical suggestion that the way for the Irish to beat their poverty was to sell their children to the rich as meat and leather.
The best essays, like Swift's, use wit — not just to sugar the pill of heavy prose, but also to ramp up the argument beyond the merely prosaic statement of a thesis. Paine's pamphlet, anonymous at the time of publication, had a direct effect on the Declaration of Independence. An argument in the real sense of an argument, it's as if Paine is shouting at you as he rips into the unfairness of a king on one island ruling a continent on the other side of an ocean: "If we will suffer ourselves to examine the component parts of the English Constitution, we shall find them to be the base remains of two ancient tyrannies, compounded with some new Republican materials.
For all his reputation as the planet-sized brain of the 20th century, Isaiah Berlin was better at the short sprint than the magnum opus. His lectures stick in the minds of those who heard them half a century ago. This essay is just as memorable. The inspiration came from the Ancient Greek idiom: "The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.
Berlin then sifts through his storage room of a brain to divide writers into one or the other category. Tolstoy, who forms the heart of the essay, wanted to be a hedgehog but was really a fox. Other foxes include Aristotle, Montaigne and Shakespeare.
Plato and Proust are hedgehogs. All a bit reductive perhaps, but really enjoyable, and a useful boilerplate when it comes to considering the ideas of other writers. Normally, a newspaper comment piece would never be long, or substantial, enough to constitute an essay.
But this article — justifying the appointment of Jeffrey John, the Dean of St Albans, as Bishop of Reading — went way beyond tomorrow's-chip-wrapper material. The personal anecdote and light, jokey manner disguise serious thought and a deeply convincing argument; and the article becomes an essay. Buy Notting Hill Editions essays "There's not much point in trying to define an essay. Evelyn Waugh, A Call to the Orders Evelyn Waugh considered life as a printer, cabinet-maker and carpenter before becoming a novelist.
Michel de Montaigne, On the Cannibals Montaigne is regularly wheeled out as the father of the essay. JM Barrie, Courage If you thought Steve Jobs's address to the graduating class of Stanford in was impressive, prepare to be even more deeply moved by Barrie's speech to the students of St Andrews University in , where he had been voted rector.
Truman Capote, The Duke in his Domain Capote is best remembered for his novels, but his non-fiction was exceptional: acidly witty, to the point of nastiness; hyper-observational, to the point of even deeper nastiness.
Jonathan Swift, A Modest Proposal Extremely well-known, but that doesn't take away from the effectiveness of Swift's satirical suggestion that the way for the Irish to beat their poverty was to sell their children to the rich as meat and leather. Thomas Paine, Common Sense; Addressed to the Inhabitants of America, on the following interesting subjects Paine's pamphlet, anonymous at the time of publication, had a direct effect on the Declaration of Independence.
Not here. Isaiah Berlin, The Hedgehog and the Fox For all his reputation as the planet-sized brain of the 20th century, Isaiah Berlin was better at the short sprint than the magnum opus. AN Wilson, In Defence of Gay Priests Normally, a newspaper comment piece would never be long, or substantial, enough to constitute an essay. Topics Best books Top 10s. Reuse this content. Order by newest oldest recommendations. Show 25 25 50 All. Threads collapsed expanded unthreaded.
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“Fairy Tale Is Form, Form Is Fairy Tale,” Kate Bernheimer, from The Writer's Notebook: Craft. “Reflections on.
Now in paperback, today's most celebrated writers explore literature and the literary life in an inspirational collection of original essays. By turns poignant, hilarious, and practical, Writers on Writing brings together more than forty of contemporary literature's finest voices. Pieces range from reflections on the daily craft of writing to the intersection of art's and life's consequential moments. Authors discuss what impels them to write: creating a sense of control in a turbulent universe; bearing witness to events that would otherwise be lost in history or within the writer's soul; recapturing a fragment of time.
A good thing too, especially for all those aspiring writers out there looking for a little bit of guidance. Note: there are many, many, many great essays on writing.
Think essays are just something boring you write for class? These masterpieces will make you totally reconsider.
50 Must-Read Contemporary Essay Collections
You can get information about sooooo many topics, sometimes in one single book! To prove that there are a zillion amazing essay collections out there, I compiled 50 great contemporary essay collections, just from the last 18 months alone. Ranging in topics from food, nature, politics, sex, celebrity, and more, there is something here for everyone! There are a LOT of them. Yay, books! She writes with the familiarity of someone telling a dinner party anecdote, forgoing decorum for candor and comedy.
40 Best Essays of All Time (With Links)
Essay collections are nothing new — writers have always wanted to write non-fiction pieces from their own point of view. But it is fair to say that essay collections among women seem to be enjoying something of a Golden Age. Being heard as a woman has always been difficult and if the past couple of years post MeToo has taught us anything, women are still being censored, ignored and erased. Sexual politics crop up in almost any essay collection by a woman — how could they not? Unique perspectives on universal experiences — sex, work, identity, love — are what essayists do best. Many of these essays cover race today — how it intersects with feminism or what it feels like to repeatedly feel shame when viewing yourself through the lens of White America. We were looking for essays which were provocative, comforting, enlightening and above all, truthful — authours needed to clearly present opinion without straying into self-indulgence. Crucially, all of the essay collections here are by authors with a unique and distinct voice and all feel like little gifts from the writers. You can trust our independent reviews. We may earn commission from some of the retailers, but we never allow this to influence selections, which are formed from real-world testing and expert advice.
Each teacher gives out homework, and at the end of the day, the students are overburdened.
Harry Mount is a journalist, author and editor of the Notting Hill Editions Journal , which commissions a new essay every week. The latest series of essays are published this month. Buy Notting Hill Editions essays.
Harry Mount's top 10 essays
Robert Atwan, the founder of The Best American Essays series, picks the 10 best essays of the postwar period. Links to the essays are provided when available. So to make my list of the top ten essays since less impossible, I decided to exclude all the great examples of New Journalism--Tom Wolfe, Gay Talese, Michael Herr, and many others can be reserved for another list. I also decided to include only American writers, so such outstanding English-language essayists as Chris Arthur and Tim Robinson are missing, though they have appeared in The Best American Essays series. And I selected essays , not essayists. A list of the top ten essayists since would feature some different writers. And the best essays show that the name of the genre is also a verb, so they demonstrate a mind in process--reflecting, trying-out, essaying. Against a violent historical background, Baldwin recalls his deeply troubled relationship with his father and explores his growing awareness of himself as a black American. However you view the racial politics, the prose is undeniably hypnotic, beautifully modulated and yet full of urgency. An essay that packed an enormous wallop at the time may make some of us cringe today with its hyperbolic dialectics and hyperventilated metaphysics. Odd, how terms can bounce back into life with an entirely different set of connotations.
15 Great Articles and Essays about Writing
Now I want to share the whole list with you with the addition of my notes about writing. Each item on the list has a direct link to the essay, so please, click away and indulge yourself. Once you open the package, you have to eat the whole goddamn thing. I tried to find ones that were well-written and awe-inspiring at the same time. I wanted them to have the power to change my thinking and change my life. And they delivered. But a part of it is still with you. It changed you the very moment you read its last line. The essays are not listed in any particular order.
