Friday, November 26, 2010
Book Talk: Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson
While there are many good conversations about essay, among them the introduction in The American Essay 2009, edited by Mary Oliver as well as the good writing of Philip Lopate, I find myself turn, again and again to this book of essays by Emerson (1803-1882) for a definition that rings true and that I often pass over to students.
The passage is by Irwin Edman, who was known for the “charm and clarity” of his writing, and for being an open-minded critic. He was also a popular professor and served as a mentor to undergraduate students, notably Pulitzer Prize-winning author Herman Wouk (Columbia class of 1934), who dedicated his first novel to Edman.
On essay, Edman writes: The essay is an adventure in ideas, an exploration of a theme, a sortie of reflection. It is not an article; it is not an explication. The essay is an idea reflected through a personal medium. It is the form of literature in which the part counts, perhaps, more than the whole and which the part that counts most is the sentence. It is the mode of writing in which, when the whole does count, it counts most as a tone, an atmosphere; mood and attitude are more important than explicit structure, than pedestrian reasons argument. The essayist himself is remembered no less than his subject, even when he is not talking about himself.
I simply love this definition of the essay, which since the advent of journalism and memoir, seems to be a misunderstood form largely confined to academic works. Full length collections of essays are a bit confusing. Just what are they any way? 
The actual book of essays by Emerson is a glimpse into another time and place. Emerson, an American lecturer, essayist, and poet, was best remembered for leading the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century and for his championship of individualism. He was also a prescient critic of the countervailing pressures of society.
To read his writing, ingest and even understand requires a kind of meditative silence and focus that this time often doesn't allow (and which he so aptly predicted). We are so accelerated in these days and Emerson enviously exists in a timeless space. He is a gentleman of contemplation, allowed hours, days, weeks and months to ponder and formulate ideas on the page.
Heaven.
I recommend this book for the shelf and bedside. Pick it up when you find the time. There are gems to be gathered.
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