The Lexington Reader [antikvár]

E. B. White, essayist par excellence, says of his art: "The essayist is a selfliberated man, sustained by the childish belief that everything he thinks about, everything that happens to him, is of generál interest. He is a fellow who thoroughly enjoys his work, just as people who take bird walks enjoy theirs. Each new excursion of the essayist, each new 'attempt,' differs from the last and takes him into new country. This delights him. Only a person who is congenitally self-centered has the effrontery and the stamina to write essays." White has captured the essence of the writers in The Lexington Reader-its title a reinforcement of the self-liberating activities initiated by the Minutemen's "shot heard 'round the world" at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, in 1776. They delight in their work; they believe, righdy or wrongly, that whatever they experience or think about is of course of consuming interest to others; they expect to make a memorable impression on their readers. Joan Didion reinforces White's views from a more assertive stance: "In many ways writing is the act of saying I, of imposing oneself upon other people, of saying listen to me, see it my way, change your mind.'''' White continues, "There are as many kinds of essays as there are humán attitudes or poses, as many essay flavors as there are Howard Johnson ice creams. The essayist arises in the morning and . . . selects his garb from an unusually extensive wardrobe: he can puli on any sort of shirt, be any sort of person, according to his mood or his subject matter-philosopher, scold, jester, raconteur, confidant, pundit, devil's advocate, enthusiast." The essays in The Lexington Reader have been chosen to reveal writers of essays in their many voices, many modes-shirts of many colors and fashions. It is my hope that the texts of the essays themselves, and the related material about the author's life, as well as about the particular work, the study questions, and strategies and suggestions for writing will enable students and their teachers to recognize in published essays elements and processes they can use in writing essays of their own. The 122 essays in The Lexington Reader are drawn from many sources, particularly the most distinguished and distinctive contemporary writing about people, places, humanities and the arts, controversy, science and the social sciences, how-to, humor, and the phenomenon of writing itself. There