THE NEXT AMERICAN ESSAY

Name: THE NEXT AMERICAN ESSAY
Author: John D’Agata
ISBN: 1-55597-375-2

edited by John D’Agata ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 2003

In a note about the title, D'Agata says that by “next” he means “the essays that might be inspired by these.” Based on this...

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A sometimes challenging anthology that expands the usual definition of essay.

Iowa Workshop grad D’Agata, who collected his own unconventional essays in Halls of Fame (2001), here selects one per year starting in 1975, when he was born, bookending them with Guy Davenport’s prologue and Joe Wenderoth’s epilogue. D’Agata’s choice for 1975, John McPhee’s “The Search for Marvin Gardens,” is a relatively conventional essay by a widely read author; other choices falling into this category are Joan Didion’s “The White Album,” Susan Sontag’s “Unguided Tour,” Barry Lopez’s “The Raven,” Annie Dillard’s “Total Eclipse,” Alexander Theroux’s “Black,” and David Foster Wallace’s “Ticket to the Fair.” Some selections are fragmentary, such as Theresa Hak Kyung Cha’s “Erato Love Poetry,” or stream-of-consciousness, such as Albert Goldbarth’s “Delft.” Goldbarth and Anne Carson are among several writers here who are known for their poetry at least as much as for their essays. D’Agata’s interjections between each piece sometimes comment on the year represented, sometimes discuss the author presented, sometimes appear to have nothing to do with the piece that follows. The editor is partial to making lists. He is also partial to wordplay, as when he mentions that his mother read to him while he was in the womb: “And as we now know, but did not know then, a fetus at eight weeks has developed its ears but not yet the ability to hear. What this means is that anything you read to a fetus will go in one ear, but not come out.”

In a note about the title, D'Agata says that by “next” he means “the essays that might be inspired by these.” Based on this anthology, that could mean pretty much anything.

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2003

ISBN: 1-55597-375-2

Page Count: 488

Publisher: Graywolf

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2002

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE MAKING OF THE AMERICAN ESSAY
edited by John D’Agata

- BOOK REVIEW
THE LIFESPAN OF A FACT
by John D’Agata and Jim Fingal

- BOOK REVIEW
ABOUT A MOUNTAIN
by John D’Agata

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THE COUNTY FAIR COOKBOOK

YANKEE JOHNNYCAKES, TATER PIGS, SHOOFLY PIE, AND 200 MORE RECIPES FROM AMERICA'S BEST COUNTY COOKS

by Lyn Stallworth & Rod Kennedy Jr. ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 2, 1994

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This unappealing, disorganized, catastrophe of a cookbook paints an unhealthy picture of country fare. The authors (The Brooklyn Cookbook, 1991) tout this volume as an effort to keep the spirit of rural America alive and squealing. Unfortunately, with concoctions like the cholesterol-laden Midwest Spam Salad (that mystery meat done with a cup of Miracle Whip, three eggs, and a cup of cheddar cheese) and the pork-fat seasoned Venison Scrapple, readers will run for the big city. And who needs a recipe for greasy Greek Brown Butter Spaghetti (brown a stick of butter, pour over pasta, then toss with Parmesan cheese) or Tater Pigs (stuff one pork link sausage into a hole bored into an Idaho potato and bake) or Sugar on Snow (dribble warm maple syrup over crushed ice)? Any attempt to head directly to the few healthful, appetizing creations, like Esther Stipp's Yellow Squash Summer Soup made without cream (and only a little oil to sautÇ the onion and garlic) is thwarted by the authors' decision to organize these recipes according to the eight regions (New England, the South, the Great Lakes, etc.) and nearly 100 fairs at which they can be found. Furthermore, the recipes compete with an overabundance of information on the fairs themselves—including directions for getting there and where to park, and what fair exhibitor Sara Morris has been doing since her first 4-H exhibit in the third grade. Makes one grateful not to be a country boy.

Pub Date: Sept. 2, 1994

ISBN: 0-7868-6014-6

Page Count: 368

Publisher: Hyperion

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1994

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE BROOKLYN COOKBOOK
by Lyn Stallworth & Rod Kennedy Jr.

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THE BEST AMERICAN ESSAYS 1994

edited by Tracy Kidder & Robert Atwan ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 3, 1994

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Volume nine strains a bit to achieve its predecessors' diversity by stretching the definition of ``essay.'' Take, for example, the two longest contributions. In ``Trucking Through the AIDS Belt'' Ted Conover spends time on the road with Central African truckers (``true museums of disease,'' a doctor calls them), while in ``The Last Shot'' Darcy Frey hangs out with black high school basketball players, examining the ``cherished parable'' that college scholarships provide a way out of the ghetto. (Frey has expanded this piece into a book. See p. 1185.) Frey's piece is excellent; Conover's, though more diffuse, is still pretty good. Yet it's questionable whether these in-depth reporting pieces can really be considered ``narrative essays'' (Kidder's term). Other entries collected by series editor Atwan and Pulitzer Prize-winning guest editor Kidder (Old Friends, 1993, etc.) hew more closely to the form. There is cultural commentary: Adam Gopnik on the ``High Morbid Manner'' in contemporary art, Cynthia Ozick finding echoes of Henry James in Salman Rushdie's appearance at a Paris seminar, David Denby celebrating a Dead White Male (Homer) on his return to Columbia nearly 30 years after graduation. There are reflections on our relationship to our habitat (William Langewiesche's marvelously lucid account of aviation's coming of age) and the animals we share it with (Vicki Hearne, in the collection's most delightfully offbeat entry, finding ``deep knowledge about animals...in a trained-orangutan act on a Las Vegas stage''). Disappointingly, the collection has only one essay on our political and social relations: James McPherson's vapid consideration of Martin Luther King's ideas about community. Lastly, there are lively autobiographical sketches. Treating a sadistic male patient, Lauren Slater finds surprising links to her anorexic past, while Lucy Grealy, assessing years of reconstructive surgery, ponders the link between the face and the self. Outshining them all is the series' ever-bright star, Stanley Elkin. In incandescent prose, he writes about the worst days of his life (``the season of my madness''); the result is both harrowing and wildly funny. A solid addition to an annual series that has won many plaudits.