Best American Essays of the [20th] Century (7)

Best American Essays of the Century (31 - 35)
Editors: Oates and Atwan
Boston, New York: Houghton Mifflin Company
2000

Why read it? The essays are in chronological order from 1901 to 1997. If you expect these essays to be pleasant, comforting and fun to read, you are mistaken. Joyce Carol Oates, one of the editors of the book, says, “My belief is that art should not be comforting; for comfort, we have mass entertainment, and one another Art should provoke, disturb, arouse our emotions, expand our sympathies in directions we may not anticipate and may not even wish.” Most of these essays provoke. Many of them I had never read, but they paint a vivid portrait of the twentieth century.

31. Susan Sontag. "Notes on 'Camp.' " 1964. The best summary of "Camp" is in the last sentence: "It's good because it's awful."

32. Vladimir Nabokov. "Perfect Past."1966. Reflections on the themes that emerged through writing his autobiography.

33. M. Scott Momaday. "The Way to Rainy Mountain." 1967. As an adult, the author reflects on his Kiowa Indian culture as he experienced it through his grandmother in his youth. The love of the sun and of nature stands out.

34. Elizabeth Hardwick. "The Apotheosis of Martin Luther King." 1968. The author reflects on the meaning of the death of Martin Luther King. She suggests that the Christian religion will no longer play a part in the battle for civil rights.

35. Michael Herr. "Illumination Rounds." 1969. Interviews and incidents in the Vietnam War. They add up to its incomprehensibility to the men who fought it. "The Intel report lay closed on the green field table and someone had scrawled, 'What does it all mean?' across the cover sheet."