Best American Essays 2009

First off, big congrats to Mike Alber, whose "Magic: The Essay" from Hobart #9 is credited as a Notable Essay of 2008 in the new BAE. So: congrats! Seriously, if you don't already have Ho9 you should get it right now and then read the essay as soon as you receive the issue. Obviously I'm not the most objective opinion maker here, but this is seriously one of the best essays I've read in recent memory, maybe ever. I mean, it's about Mike soothing his med school failings by getting pretty serious into Magic: The Gathering. Like, serious enough to at one point consider becoming a PROFESSIONAL Magic player. See? You want to read this essay right now, don't you?

All that said, I picked up BAE 2009 a couple of days ago and have read maybe 20-25% of it already and so am now pretty sure Mike's essay wasn't chosen by Mary Oliver for inclusion in the antho because: 1) it isn't boring enough, and 2) he doesn't ever mention being a writer. I don't think. I just went back and skimmed it and don't think there is any mention of his going from med school to an MFA program. This might have even been on my recommendation, as I tend to prefer essays that shy away from the writer's own, you know, writer-y-ness. A prejudice that Oliver obviously doesn't share. Here's a rundown of the issue:

Taking a Reading by Sue Allison: look at the title. last couple of lines: "A ream is a lot of paper, sold and purchased blank. Written on, it's a book."

(En)trance by Chris Arthur: (I haven't read this yet, but here's the first line:) "It was while thinking about pillars at Shandon that I realized I would never be the sort of writer I used to believe I'd become."

Portrait of a Masked man: (also not yet read, though it looks good. doesn't appear to mention writing, though it is about writing's cousin, art. first line:) "I'm sitting in a wood cabin... about to begin drawing a portrait of Subcomandante Marcos."

Faustian Economics by Wendell Berry (also haven't yet read, though looks to avoid my ire)

The Greatest Nature Essay Ever by Brian Doyle (an actually pretty cool short-short though, obviously about an essay)

Cherish This Ecstasy by David James Duncan (I liked this as well, though the premise and

set-up was great and then, frankly, I think it got a little writerly for me. the first sentence of second para:) "The same year that I was researching a novel about birds..."

The Dark Art of Description by Patricia Hampl (not yet read, first para:) "I was coming down the last lap of my most recent book, a memoir about my mother and father, and I was painfully aware of just how specific every bit of writing is, full of choices and chances, not theoretical at all, not the business of sweeping statements or smart ideas about "form" or "genre" or anything remotely theoretical. Just subject-verb-object and the hope of meaning."

And Such SMall Deer by Garret Keizer (looks good though maybe too smart for me. also looks, from super-quick skimming, to avoid meta-"I am a writer" pronouncements, though there are references to The Old Man and the Sea, and The Great Gatsby, and Moby Dick, among others)

Our Vanishing Night by Verlyn Klinkenborg (looks to be most devoid of mentions of writing yet. which feels refreshing right now)

You Be the Moon by Amy Leach (see above. was that just two in a row?)

The Mansion: A Subprime Parable by Michael Lewis (first sent.:) "I was looking to return to New Oreans, where I'd grown up, to write a book."

OK, that's only half the book, but I'm getting tired (I'm not a very good blogger) and you get the idea. One, I guess I've actually read much less than 20% still. And two, I'm not saying there is anything inherently bad in an essay acknowledging that the writer is a, you know, writer, but the above percentage couldn't help but make it a trend that I kept noticing.

Thoughts? Do other people like it, dislike it, care at all?

-aaron

Comments

[Adam R]

I generally dislike it, I think. It seems like an admission of defeat -- that the only people who read are writers. I mean, it might be the case that non-writers are really interested in the writing process or whatever, but I agree with you that so many essays about it in one book is overmuch.

[russell e]

i care.

first of all, i got a prob. with mary oliver. she wrote like 5 good poems and then published them 1000 times. secondly, i got another prob. and that's with these essays you mention. i've always disliked writing about writing because it makes the subject writing instead of about a million other way more interesting things. i think if writers had to work as hard on writing as, say, sculptors, then we wouldn't have all this meta-business. for instance, you don't often see a marble sculpture of a person creating a marble sculpture. because it's too hard to sculpt (i would think, i don't know, i've never sculpted) and the product would be painfully self-referential.

i don't know that it's an admission of defeat as much as it is the writer not knowing how to even chance defeat. nonfiction is already plagued with naval-gazers. my position is that writing should be used as a tool to get at other subjects. if you're using a tool to get at a tool, well, then you are a, uh, you get the idea.

not to say that writing about writing can't ultimately get at a worthy subject (disclaimer).

thirdly, my last problem is that i believe i may have (but most definitely did) sent you a questionable drunk email. i meant everything i said (whatever it may have been).

russ.

(fourthly, that magic essay in hobart was great)

[Essay reader]

I'm not trying to stick up for anybody or anything, but just thought I'd clarify that just because an essay is "Notable" doesn't mean it's among the essays the guest editor read for the book. Robert Atwan describes the process in his Foreword. So Mary may or not have ever seen the "Magic" essay...

[david]

This year's collection was lame. I don't have a copy in front of me, but I feel like there was at least another one or two essays that directly reference writing. The book was a huge disappointment after last year's, which was totally bad ass. (As mentioned already, I don't think the typical HOBART reader shares Mary Oliver's aesthetic).

The Notable Essay list is way more exciting than the actual collection, at least this year.