The Next American Essay

In this singular collection, John D'Agata takes a literary tour of lyric essays written by the masters of the craft. Beginning with 1975 and John McPhee's ingenious piece, "The Search for Marvin Gardens," D'Agata selects an example of creative nonfiction for each subsequent year. These essays are unrestrained, elusive, explosive, mysteriousa personal lingual playground. They encompass and illuminate culture, myth, history, romance, and sex. Each essay is a world of its own, a world so distinctive it resists definition. Contributors include: Sherman Alexie David Antin Jenny Boully Anne Carson Guy Davenport Lydia Davis Joan Didion Annie Dillard Thalia Field Albert Goldbarth Susan Griffin Theresa Hak Kung Cha Jamaica Kincaid Wayne Koestenbaum Barry Lopez John McPhee Carole Maso Harry Mathews Susan Mitchell Fabio Morabito Mary Ruefle David Shields Dennis Silk Susan Sontag Alexander Theroux George W. S. Trow David Foster Wallace Eliot Weinberger Joe Wenderoth James Wright

John D'Agata is the author Halls of Fame. A graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, he holds M.F.A.s in both nonfiction and poetry and is currently editor of lyric essays for Seneca Review.