The Essay: An Introduction

Originally published as part of Robert DiYanni's Literature, fourth edition, The Essay serves those Introduction to Literature courses that cover this genre in addition to Poetry, Fiction, and Drama. It is available separately or in a package with DiYanni's Literature, fifth edition.

Table of Contents:
CHAPTER 1: READING ESSAYS The Experience of the Essay Mark Twain from "Cub" Wants to Be a PilotLoren Eiseley from The judgement of the BirdsAlice Walker from In Search of Our Mothers' GardensE. B. White The Ring of Time The Interpretation of the Essay George Orwell Marrakech The Evaluation of the Essay Richard Selzer The Masked Marvel's Last Toehold The Act of Reading the Essay Gretel Ehrlich About Men CHAPTER 2: TYPES OF ESSAY Speculative Essays Argumentative Essays Narrative Essays Expository Essays CHAPTER 3: ELEMENTS OF THE ESSAY Voice Joan Didion Los Angeles Notebook Style Henry David Thoreau The Battle of the Ants Structure Virginia Woolf The Death of the Moth Thought Francis Bacon Of Revenge CHAPTER 4: APPROACHING AN ESSAY: Reading and Writing GuidelinesGuidelines for Reading Annie Dillard Living Like WeaselsSuggestions for Writing CHAPTER 5: WRITING ABOUT ESSAYS Reasons for Writing About Essays Informal Ways of Writing About Essays Formal Ways of Writing About Essays Writing to Interpret an Essay Zora Neale Hurston How It Feels to Be Colored Me Three Student Essays Questions for Writing About Essays CHAPTER 6: TWO ESSAYISTS IN CONTEXT Reading E. B. White and Maxine Hong Kingston in Depth Questions for In-Depth Reading Introduction to E. B. White White on Writing Critics on White E. B. White: Essays Once More to the Lake The GeeseIntroduction to Maxine Hong Kingston Kingston on Writing Critics on Kingston Maxine Hong Kingston: Prose No Name Woman Silence On Discovery CHAPTER 7: A COLLECTION OF ESSAYS Michel de Montaigne Of Smells Francis Bacon Of Love John Donne Meditation XVII: For Whom the Bell Tolls Jonathan Swift A Modest Proposal Mark Twain "Cub" Wants to Be a Pilot E. M. Forster Our Graves In Gallipoli Virginia Woolf Old Mrs. Grey George Orwell Shooting an Elephant Loren Eiseley The Judgment of the Birds James Baldwin Notes of a Native SonA Sampling of Contemporary Essays Tom Wolfe The Right Stuff Alice Walker In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens Bernard Cooper Burl'sAcknowledgmentsIndex

About the Author :
Robert DiYanni is Professor of English at Pace University, Pleasantville, New York, where he teaches courses in literature, writing, and humanities. He has also taught at Queens College of the City University of New York, at New York University in the Graduate Rhetoric Program, and most recently in the Expository Writing Program at Harvard University. He received his B.A. from Rutgers University (1968) and his Ph.D. from the City University of New York (1976). Robert DiYanni has written articles and reviews on various aspects of literature, composition, and pedagogy. His books include Literature: Reading, Fiction, Poetry, Drama and the Essay; The McGraw-Hill Book of Poetry; Womens Voices; Like Seasond Timber: New Essays on George Herbert; and Modern American Poets: Their Voices and Visions (a text to accompany the Annenberg-funded telecourse, Voices and Visions). With Kraft Rompf, he edited The McGraw-Hill Book of Poetry, (1993) and The McGraw-Hill Book of Fiction (1995). With Pat Hoy, he edited Encounters: Readings for Inquiry and Argument (1997).