Monday, November 22, 2010

Lewis Lapham Explains the Essay

God, I love this man. Last month, Harper's said goodbye to the "Notebook" section of the magazine. Lapham wrote a farewell to the section and used that farewell to explain the power, and the beauty, and the importance of the essay as a form. "Figures of Speech" is a magnificent essay, and I thought I would share these insightful words that appear just after Lapham's opening paragraphs.

The names [of great essayists listed in a preceding paragraph] are representative, meant to suggest the range of expression and the wealth of possibility that I rope into a notion of the essay borrowed from Michel de Montaigne. The sixteenth-century French autobiographer, a contemporary of Shakespeare and Cervantes, derived the approach to his topics from the meaning of the word essai, from essayer (to try, to embark upon, to attempt), asking himself at the outset of his reflections, whether on cannibals or the custom of wearing clothes, “What do I know?” The question distinguishes the essay from the less adventurous forms of expository prose—the dissertation, the polemic, the article, the campaign speech, the tract, the op-ed, the arrest warrant, the hotel bill. Writers determined to render a judgment or swing an election, to cast a moneylender out of a temple or deliver a message to Garcia, begin the first paragraph knowing how, when, where, and why they intend to claim the privilege of the last word. Not so the essayist, even if what he or she is writing purports to be a history or a field report. Like Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, the essayist lights out for the territories, never sure of the next sentence until the words show up on the page.
(Lewis Lapham. Harpers. Nov. 2010. Page 9.)

This is just one of several beautiful insights Lapham has into essay writing. The problem is folks, I just can't simply copy the whole article in here. To read the rest of this online--to see what I mean by beautiful insights--go to Harper's website and subscribe. Seriously. Do it. I continue to believe that the best nonfiction writing in America is published in this magazine. God bless you, New Yorker and Atlantic Monthly, for doing what you do, but I need Harper's for its investigative journalism and its wisdom on the the intersection of America and the English language. One last note: I would like to think that Lapham's claims are the mark of all great writing. Need it be said? Yes. Great writing "lights out for the territories." Great writing seeks to discover.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Not Dead Yet

As the six or seven of you who read my blog know already, I am still alive. I am reading, watching, writing, and thinking--I just haven't really had the time to post like I used to. One thing, though: Tina Fey won the Mark Twain prize for American Humor. PBS broadcast the award show on Sunday night. I've been watching this award show almost since it began, and this year is tied with Carlin's year for my favorite. Fey is stellar. The show featured my favorite work of hers over the years--the sketches I never forgot. And, while not technically a roast, her friends delivered some good laughs. Betty White had some decent zingers. Carell and Baldwin had the funniest segments (although, it was funny to see the audience shocked and confused by Krakowski's "Muffin Top" number). Cheers to Fey. The whole episode is here. Baldwin's Twain is here. Fey's magnificent, sharp, and funny acceptance speech is here--Palin jokes and all.