GUEST EDITORS OF
THE BEST AMERICAN ESSAYS
1986
ELIZABETH HARDWICK
1987
GAY TALESE
1988
ANNIE DILLARD
1989
GEOFFREY WOLFF
1990
JUSTIN KAPLAN
1991
JOYCE CAROL OATES
1992
SUSAN SONTAG
1993
JOSEPH EPSTEIN
1994
TRACY KIDDER
1995
JAMAICA KINCAID
1996
GEOFFREY C. WARD
1997
IAN FRAZIER
1998
CYNTHIA OZICK
1999
EDWARD HOAGLAND
2000
ALAN LIGHTMAN
The Best
AMERICAN
ESSAYS
2000
Edited and with an Introduction
by ALAN L I G H T M A N
Robert Atwan, Series Editor
HOUGHTON
BOSTON
MIFFLIN
• NEW YORK
COMPANY
2OOO
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company
Introduction copyright © 2000 by Alan Lightman
u
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any
information storage or retrieval system without the prior written permission of the
copyright owner unless such copying is expressly permitted by federal copyright
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QUM 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
"The Last Time I Saw Paris" by Andre Aciman. First published in Commentary,
January 1999. Copyright © 1999 by Andre Aciman. Reprinted by permission of the
author, Janklow & Nesbit, and Commentary.
"In Distrust of Movements" by Wendell Berry. First published in Orion, Summer
1999. Copyright © 1999 by Wendell Berry. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"The Joys and Perils of Victimhood" by Ian Buruma. First published in Tfie New
York Review of Books, April 1999. Copyright © 1999 by Ian Buruma. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"A Son in Shadow" by Fred D'Aguiar. First published in Harper's Magazine, March
1999. Copyright © 1999 by Fred D'Aguiar. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"Westbury Court" by Edwidge Danticat. First published in New Letters, Volume 65,
No. 4. Copyright © 1999 by Edwidge Danticat. Reprinted by permission of the author and the Watkins Loomis Agency.
"In Defense of the Book" by William H. Gass. First published in Harper's Magazine, November 1999. Copyright © 1999 by William H. Gass. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"Rome: The Visible City" by Mary Gordon. First published in Salmagundi, Fall/
Winter 1999. Copyright © 1999 by Mary Gordon. Reprinted by permission of Sterling Lord Literistic.
"Earth's Eye" by Edward Hoagland. First published in Sierra, May 1999. Copyright © 1999 by Edward Hoagland. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"Those Words That Echo . . . Echo . . . Echo Through Life" by Jamaica Kincaid.
First published in The New York Times, June 7, 1999. Copyright © 1999 by Jamaica
Kincaid. Reprinted by permission of the author and The Wylie Agency.
"If You Are What You Eat, Then What Am I?" by Geeta Kothari. First published in
The Kenyon Review, Winter 1999. Copyright © 1999 by Geeta Kothari. Reprinted by
permission of the author.
"The Resurrectionist" by Richard McCann. First published in Tin House, Volume
1, No. 1. Copyright © 1999 by Richard McCann. Reprinted by permission of Brandt
& Brandt Literary Agents, Inc.
"The Synthetic Sublime" by Cynthia Ozick. First published in The New Yorker, February 22/March 1, 1999. Copyright © 1999 by Cynthia Ozick. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"The Force of Spirit" by Scott Russell Sanders. First published in Orion, Autumn
1999. Copyright © 1999 by Scott Russell Sanders. Reprinted by permission of the
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"At a Certain Age" by Lynne Sharon Schwartz. First published in The Threepenny
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"The Singer Solution to World Poverty" by Peter Singer. First published in The
New York Times Magazine, September 5, 1999. Copyright © 1999 by Peter Singer. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"Gray Area: Thinking with a Damaged Brain" by Floyd Skloot. First published in
CreativeNonfiction, Number 13. Copyright © 1999 by Floyd Skloot. Reprinted by permission of the author and the Ellen Levine Literary Agency, Inc.
"Listening for Silence" by Mark Slouka. First published in Harper's Magazine,
April 1999. Copyright © 1999 by Mark Slouka. Reprinted by permission of International Creative Management, Inc.
"Heroin/e" by Cheryl Strayed. First published in DoubleTake, Spring 1999. Copyright © 1999 by Cheryl Strayed. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"What's So Bad About Hate?" by Andrew Sullivan. First published in The New York
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"A Designer Universe?" by Steven Weinberg. First published in The New York Review of Books, October 21, 1999. Copyright © 1999 by Steven Weinberg. Reprinted
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"A Shark in the Mind of One Contemplating Wilderness" by Terry Tempest Williams. First published in The Nation, November 29, 1999. Copyright© 2000 by Terry
Tempest Williams. Reprinted by permission of Pantheon Books, a division of Random House, Inc.
?'/•
OQi
Contents
Foreword by Robert Atwan ix
Introduction by Alan Lightman
xiii
A N D R E A C I M A N . The Last Time I Saw Paris
i
from Commentary
W E N D E L L B E R R Y . In Distrust of Movements
13
from Orion
I A N B U R U M A . The Joys and Perils of Victimhood 20
from The New York Review of Books
FRED D ' A G U I A R . A Son in Shadow 32
from Harper's Magazine
EDWIDGE DANTICAT.
Westbury Court 47
from New Letters
W I L L I A M H . G A S S . In Defense of the Book
52
from Harper's Magazine
M A R Y G O R D O N . Rome: The Visible City
64
from Salmagundi
EDWARD H O A G L A N D . Earth's Eye 80
from Sierra
J A M A I C A K I N C A I D . Those Words That Echo . . . Echo .
Through Life 86
from The New York Times
. Echo
( • ' /
viii
(of
Contents
GEETA KOTHARI. If
from The Kenyan Review
You Are What You Eat, Then What Am I? 91
R I C H A R D M C C A N N . The Resurrectionist 101
from Tin House
Foreword
C Y N T H I A O Z I C K . The Synthetic Sublime 110
from The New Yorker
SCOTT RUSSELL SANDERS.
from Orion
The Force of Spirit 122
LYNNE SHARON SCHWARTZ.
from The Threepenny Review
PETER SINGER. The Singer
from The New York Times Magazine
FLOYD SKLOOT. Gray
from Creative Nonfiction
At a Certain Age 134
Solution to World Poverty 140
Area: Thinking with a Damaged Brain 147
M A R K S L O U K A . Listening for Silence
from Harper's Magazine
CHERYL STRAYED.
from DoubleTake
160
Heroin/e 169
A N D R E W S U L L I V A N . What's So Bad About Hate?
from The New York Times Magazine
182
STEVEN WEINBERG. A Designer
from The New York Review of Books
Universe? 201
TERRY TEMPEST WILLIAMS. A
Contemplating Wilderness 211
from The Nation
Shark in the Mind of One
Biographical Notes 221
Notable Essays of 1999 226
A CENTURY AGO, one of our finest essayists wondered what
Americans would be like in the year 2000. Henry Adams had devised a theory of history based on his observation that scientific advancement appeared to be "doubling or quadrupling its complexities every ten years." Given this definite "Law of Acceleration," he
argued, "every American who lived into the year 2000" would not
only "know how to control unlimited power" but would by necessity "think in complexities unimaginable to an earlier mind" and
"deal with problems altogether beyond the range of earlier society."
Adams stopped short of making specific technological predictions. He had, much to his discomfort, driven in automobiles. He
envisioned no airplanes, though even as he wrote two brothers had
begun sailing through the air on a gas-propelled flying machine of
their own construction. And a little over a decade earlier, two scientists had measured a new physical constant — the speed of light.
Though Adams must have known about these marvelous experiments, he based his futurist calculations exclusively on the exponential increase in "coal power," presciently adding, however, that
the "new American" would also be the child of "chemical power,
electric power, and radiating energy, as well as of new forces yet undetermined." For Adams, the actual material transformations that
lay ahead seemed unimportant compared to the speed at which
they would occur and the new forms of consciousness this acceleration would somehow demand.
Some sixty years later, in 1965, Adams's Law of Acceleration
GUEST EDITORS OF
THE BEST AMERICAN ESSAYS
1986
ELIZABETH HARDWICK
1987
GAY TALESE
1988
ANNIE DILLARD
1989
GEOFFREY WOLFF
1 990
JUSTIN KAPLAN
1991
JOYCE CAROL OATES
1992
SUSAN SONTAG
1993
JOSEPH EPSTEIN
1994
TRACY KIDDER
1995
JAMAICA KINCAID
1996
GEOFFREY C. WARD
1997
IAN FRAZIER
1998
CYNTHIA OZICK
199g
EDWARD HOAGLAND
2000
ALAN LIGHTMAN
2001
KATHLEEN NORRIS
The Best
AMERICAN
ESSAYS
2001
Edited and with an Introduction
by KATHLEEN N O R R I S
R O B E R T ATWAN
Series Editor
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
BOSTON • NEW YORK 2OO1
p4
\i
I Copyright © 2001 by Houghton Mifflin Company
Introduction copyright © 2001 by Kathleen Norris
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
( /( ,'
;
No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any
information storage or retrieval system without the prior written permission of the
copyright owner unless such copying is expressly permitted by federal copyright
law. With the exception of nonprofit transcription in Braille, Houghton Mifflin is
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DOC 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
"In the Memory Mines" by Diane Ackerman. First published in Michigan Quarterly Review. Copyright © 2000 by Diane Ackerman. Reprinted by permission of the
William Morris Agency.
"How to Pray: Reverence, Stories, and the Rebbe's Dream" by Ben Birnbaum.
First published in Image. Copyright © 2000 by Ben Birnbaum. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"The Bone Garden of Desire" by Charles Bowden. First published in Esquire.
Copyright © 2000 by Charles Bowden. Reprinted by permission of Anderson
Grinberg Literary Management, Inc.
"Travels with R. L. S." by James Campbell. First published in the New York Times
Book Review. Copyright © 2000 by James Campbell. Reprinted by permission of the
author.
"Mail" by Anne Fadiman. First published in The American Scholar. Copyright ©
2000 by Anne Fadiman. Reprinted by permission of Lescher &: Lescher, Ltd.
"The Work of Mourning" by Francine du Plessix Gray. First published in The
American Scholar. Copyright © 2000 by Francine du Plessix Gray. Reprinted by permission of Georges Borchardt, Inc., on behalf of the author.
"Vin Laforge" by Jeffrey Heiman. First published in The Massachusetts Reviexo.
Copyright © 2000 by Jeffrey Heiman. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"Calliope Times" by Edward Hoagland. First published in The Nexv Yorker. Copyright © 2000 by Edward Hoagland/The New Yorker. Reprinted by permission of
Edward Hoagland.
"India's American Imports" by Adam Hochschild. First published in The American Scholar. Copyright © 2000 by Adam Hochschild. Reprinted by permission of
Georges Borchardt, Inc., on behalf of the author.
"Rclugiuin" by Barbara I Iurd. First published in The Georgia Review. Copyright ©
2000 by Barbara Hurd. Reprinted from Stirring in the Mud, by permission of Beacon
Press, Boston.
"On Impact" by Stephen King. First published in The New Yorker. Copyright ©
2000 by Stephen King. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"Blue Machinery of Summer" by Yusef Komunyakaa. First published in the Washington Post Magazine. Copyright © 2000 by Yusef Komunyakaa. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"The Midnight Tour" by Marcus Laffcy. First published in The New Yorker. Copyright © 2000 by Edward Conlon. Reprinted by permission of Edward Conlon.
"Facing the Village" by Lenore Look. First published in Manoa. Copyright ©
2000 by Lenore Look. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"Book Marks" by Rebecca McClanahan. First published in The Southern Review.
Copyright © 2000 by Rebecca McClanahan. Reprinted by permission of the author.
Lines from "Time for Rivets," "The Batterers," "Arrived," and "After Midwalk" by
Denise Levertov, from Evening Train. Copyright © 1992 by Denise Levertov. Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp.
"Trouble in the Tribe" by Daphne Merkin. First published in The New Yorker.
Copyright © 2000 by Daphne Merkin. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"Provincetown" by David Michaelis. First published in The American Scholar. Copyright © 2000 by David Michaelis. Reprinted by permission of the Melanie Jackson
Agency, LLP.
"Brain-Cell Memories" by Spencer Nadler. First published in Harper's Magazine.
Copyright © 2000 by Spencer Nadler. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"Dust" by Mary Oliver. First published in Shenandoah. Copyright © 2000 by Mary
Oliver. Reprinted by permission of the Molly Malone Cook Literary Agency.
"Dear Harper: A Letter to a Godchild About God" by Reynolds Price. First published in Forbes ASAP. Copyright © 2000 by Reynolds Price. Reprinted by permission
of the author.
"The Fineness of Things" by Tim Robinson. First published in The Recorder. Copyright © 2000 by Tim Robinson. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"Cut Time" by Carlo Rotella. First published in The American Scholar. Copyright ©
2000 by Carlo Rotella. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"Exquisite Corpse" by Ashraf Rushdy. First published in Transition. Copyright ©
2000 by Ashraf H. A. Rushdy. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"The Last Word" by Earl Shorris. First published in Harper's Magazine. Copyright
© 2000 by Harper's Magazine. Reprinted by permission of Harper's Magazine.
"On Being Breathless" by Bert O. States. First published in The Gettysburg Review.
Copyright © 2000 by Bert O. States. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"Upside Down and Backward" by William T. Vollmann. First published in Forbes
ASAP. Copyright © 2000 by William T. Vollmann. Reprinted by permission of the
author.
Contents
Foreword by Robert Atwan x
Introduction: Stories Around a Fire by Kathleen Norris xiv
D I A N E A C K E R M A N . In the Memory Mines
from Michigan Quarterly Review
1
How to Pray: Reverence, Stories, and
the Rebbe's Dream 14
from Image
BEN B I R N B A U M .
CHARLES BOWDEN.
The Bone Garden of Desire 30
from Esquire
J A M E S C A M P B E L L . Travels with
from The New York Times Book Review
ANNE FADIMAN. Mail
R.L.S. 46
50
from The American Scholar
F R A N C I N E DU P L E S S i x GRAY.
from The American Scholar
The Work of Mourning 60
JEFFREY HEIMAN. Vin Laforge 73
from The Massachusetts Review
EDWARD H O A G L A N D . Calliope Times 82
from TheNewYorker
ADAM H O C H S C H I L D .
from The American Scholar
India's American Imports 94
Contents
Vlll
Contents
IX
BARBARA H U R D . Refugium 106
from The Georgia Review
B E R T o . S T A T E S . On Being Breathless 284
from The Gettysburg Review
STEPHEN
W I L L I A M T . V O L L M A N N . Upside Down and Backward 296
from Forbes ASAP
KING.
On Impact
120
from The New Yorker
Y U S E F K O M U N Y A K A A . Blue Machinery of Summer
132
from The Washington Post Magazine
M A R C U S L A F F E Y . The Midnight Tour 141
from The New Yorker
LENORE L O O K . Facing the Village 152
from Manoa
REBECCA MCCLANAHAN. Book Marks 165
from The Southern Review
D A P H N E M E R K I N . Trouble in the Tribe 181
from The New Yorker
D A V I D M I C H A E L i s . Provincetown 193
from The American Scholar
S P E N C E R N A D L E R . Brain-Cell Memories
208
from Harper's Magazine
MARY OLIVER. Dust 2 l 8
from Shenandoah
REYNOLDS
PRICE
. Dear Harper: A Letter to a Godchild
About God 2 21
from Forbes ASAP
T I M R O B I N S O N . The Fineness of Things 235
from The Recorder
CARLO ROTELLA.
Cut Time 246
from The American Scholar
A S H R A F R U S H D Y . Exquisite Corpse 261
from Transition
EARL S H O R R I S . The Last Word 270
from Harper's Magazine
Biographical Notes 303
Notable Essays of 2000 309
GUEST EDITORS OF
THE BEST AMERICAN ESSAYS
1986
ELIZABETH HARDWICK
1987
GAY TALESE
1988
ANNIE DILLARD
1989
GEOFFREY WOLFF
1990 JUSTIN KAPLAN
1991
JOYCE CAROL OATES
1992
SUSAN SONTAG
1993 JOSEPH EPSTEIN
1994
The Best
AMERICAN
ESSAYS®
2002
TRACY KIDDER
1995 JAMAICA KINCAID
1996
GEOFFREY C. WARD
1997
IAN FRAZIER
1998
CYNTHIA OZICK
1999
EDWARD HOAGLAND
2000
ALAN LIGHTMAN
2001
KATHLEEN NORRIS
2002
STEPHEN JAY GOULD
Edited and with an Introduction
by Stephen Jay Gould
Robert Atwan, Series Editor
H O U G H T O N MIFFLIN COMPANY
BOSTON • NEW YORK
2OO2
-'/
{
Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company
Introduction copyright © 2002 by Stephen Jay Gould
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
) No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
—means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any
information storage or retrieval system without the prior written permission of the
copyright owner unless such copying is expressly permitted by federal copyright
law. With the exception of nonprofit transcription in Braille, Houghton Mifflin is
not authorized to grant permission for further uses of copyrighted selections reprinted in this book without the permission of their owners. Permission must be
obtained from the individual copyright owners as identified herein. Address requests for permission to make copies of Houghton Mifflin material to Permissions,
Houghton Mifflin Company, 215 Park Avenue South, New York, New York 10003.
Visit our Web site: www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com.
7001
ISSN 0888-3742
ISBN O-618-21388-O
ISBN 0-618-04932-0 (pbk.)
Printed in the United States of America
DOC 1 0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
The Best American Essays is a registered trademark of Houghton Mifflin Company.
"The Tenth Muse" by Jacques Barzun. First published in Harper's Magazine, September 2001. Copyright © 2001 by Jacques Barzun. Reprinted by permission of the
author.
"Turning Point" by Rudolph Chelminski. First published in Smithsonian, November 2001. Copyright © 2001 by Rudolph Chelminski. Reprinted by permission of
the author.
"Winner Take Nothing" by Bernard Cooper. First published in GQ, November
2001. Copyright © 2001 by Bernard Cooper. Reprinted by permission of International Creative Management.
"The Countess of Stanlein Restored" by Nicholas Delbanco. First published in
Harper's Magazine, January 2001. Copyright © 2001 by Nicholas Delbanco. Reprinted by permission of Brandt & Hochman Literary Agents, Inc.
"Welcome to Cancerland" by Barbara Ehrcnrcich. First published in Harper's
Magazine, November 2001. Copyright © 2001 by Barbara Ehrcnrcich. Reprinted by
permission of International Creative Management.
"My Father's Brain" by Jonathan Fran/.en. First published in The Nero Yorker, September 10, 2001. Copyright © 2001 by Jonathan Fran/.en. Reprinted by permission
of the author.
"Final Cut" by Atul Gawande. First published in The New Yorker, March 10, 2001.
Copyright © 2001 by Atul Gawande. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"Who We Are" by David Halberstam. First published in Vanity Fair, November
2001. Copyright © 2001 by David Halberstam. Reprinted by permission of the author. "September 1, 1939" by W. H. Auden. Copyright 1940 and © renewed 1968
by W. H. Auden. Reprinted from W. H. Auden: The Collected Poems by permission of
Random House, Inc.
"For Patriot Dreams" by Christopher Hitchens. First published in Vanity Fair, December 2001. Copyright © 2001 by Christopher Hitchens. Reprinted by permission
of the author. "September 1, 1939" by W. H. Auden. Copyright 1940 and © renewed 1968 by W. H. Auden. Reprinted from W. H. Auden: The Collected Poems by
permission of Random House, Inc.
"The Lion in Winter" by Sebastian Junger. First published in National Geographic
Adventure, March/April 2001. Copyright © 2001 by Sebastian Junger. Reprinted
from Fire hy permission of W. W. Norton, Inc.
"Fire" by Amy Kolen. First published in Tfie Massachusetts Review, Spring 2001.
Copyright © 2001 by Amy Kolen. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"The Anti-Jefferson" by Andrew Levy. First published in The American Scholar,
Spring 2001. Copyright © 2001 by Andrew Levy. Reprinted by permission of The
American Scholar.
"The Price We Pay" by Adam Mayblum. First published in DoubleTake, Special
Edition. Copyright © 2001 by Adam Mayblum. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"College: The End of the Golden Age" by Louis Menand. First published in The
New York Review of Books, October 18, 2001. Copyright © 2001 by Louis Menand. Reprinted by permission of The Wylie Agency, Inc.
"Out of the Ordinary" by Cullen Murphy. First published in The Atlantic Monthly,
October 2001. Copyright © 2001 by Cullen Murphy. Reprinted by permission of
the author.
"Merced" by Danielle Ofri. First published in The Missouri Review, vol. 24, no. 1.
Copyright © 2001 by Danielle Ofri. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"Busted in New York" by Darryl Pinckney. First published in The New Yorker, February 5, 2001. Copyright © 2001 by Darryl Pinckney. Reprinted by permission of
the author.
"Word on the Street" by Richard Price and Anne Hudson-Price. First published
in The New York Times Magazine, November 11, 2001. Copyright © 2001 by Richard
Price and Anne Hudson-Price. Reprinted by permission of the authors.
"Matriculation Fixation" by Joe Queenan. First published in The New York Times
Education Life, November 11, 2001. Copyright © 2001 by Joseph M. Queenan. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"Inside the Bunker" by John Sack. First published in Esquire, February 2001.
Copyright © 2001 by John Sack. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"Why Literature?" by Mario Vargas Llosa. First published in The Neiu Republic,
May 14, 2001. Copyright © 2001 by Mario Vargas Llosa. Reprinted by permission of
the author.
"The Meaning of Timothy McVeigh" by Gore Vidal. First published in Vanity Fair,
September 2001. Copyright © 2001 by Gore Vidal. Reprinted by permission of the
author. "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" by Lee Hazlewood. Copyright © 1965—
1966 and © renewed 1993-1994. Reprinted by permission of Criterion Music Corporation.
"The Dramaturgy of Death" by Garry Wills. First published in The New York Review of Books, June 21, 2001. Copyright © 2001 by Garry Wills. Reprinted by permission of The Wylie Agency, Inc.
"Moonrise" by Penny Wolfson. First published in The Atlantic Monthly, December
2001. Copyright © 2001 by Penny Wolfson. Reprinted by permission of the author
and St. Martin's Press, LLC.
Contents
vii
AMY KOLEN. Fire 165
from The Massachusetts Review
A N D R E W LEVY. The Anti-Jefferson
from The American Scholar
ADAM MAYBLUM.
from DoubleTake
Contents
188
The Price We Pay 213
L O U I S M E N A N D . College: The End of the Golden Age 219
from The New York Review of Books
CULLEN MURPHY. Out
from The Atlantic Monthly
Foreword by Robert Atwan viii
Introduction: To Open a Millennium by Stephen Jay Gould xiii
JACQUES BARZUN.
The Tenth Muse 1
of the Ordinary 232
DANIELLE OFRI. Merced 237
from The Missouri Review
DARRYL PINCKNEY.
Busted in New York 253
from The New Yorker
from Harper's Magazine
Turning Point 13
RUDOLPH CHELMINSKI.
Street 267
from Smithsonian
BERNARD COOPER.
RICHARD PRICE AND ANNE HUDSON-PRICE. Word On the
Winner Take Nothing 22
from GQ
NICHOLAS DELBANCO.
The Countess of Stanlein Restored 35
from Harper's Magazine
BARBARA EHRENREICH.
Welcome to Cancerland 66
from Harper's Magazine
JONATHAN FRANZEN.
My Father's Brain 88
A T U L G A W A N D E . Final Cut
111
from TheNewYorker
DAVID HALBERSTAM. Who We Are
124
from Vanity Fair
CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS.
J O H N S A C K . Inside the Bunker 2 8 0
from Esquire
MARIO VARGAS L L O S A . Why Literature? 295
from The New Republic
G O R E V I D A L . The Meaning of Timothy McVeigh 3 0 9
from Vanity Fair
from The New Yorker
For Patriot Dreams 137
from Vanity Fair
SEBASTIAN JUNGER.
from The Nero York Times Magazine
JOE QUEENAN. Matriculation Fixation 276
from The New York Times Education Life
G A R R Y W I L L S . The Dramaturgy of Death 331
from The New York Review of Books
PENNY WOLFSON. Moonrise
from The Atlantic Monthly
Biographical Notes 367
The Lion in Winter 144
from National Geographic Adventure
Notable Essays of 2001 372
344
GUEST EDITORS OF
THE BEST AMERICAN ESSAYS
1986
ELIZABETH HARDWICK
1987
GAY TALESE
1988
ANNIE DILLARD
1989
GEOFFREY WOLFF
1990 JUSTIN KAPLAN
1991 JOYCE CAROL OATES
1992
SUSAN SONTAG
1993 JOSEPH EPSTEIN
1994
TRACY KIDDER
The Best
AMERICAN
ESSAYS®
2003
1995 JAMAICA KINCAID
1996
GEOFFREY C. WARD
1997
IAN FRAZIER
1998
CYNTHIA OZICK
1999
EDWARD HOAGLAND
2000
ALAN LIGHTMAN
2001
KATHLEEN NORRIS
2002
STEPHEN JAY GOULD
2003
ANNE FADIMAN
Edited and with an Introduction
by A N N E FADIMAN
Robert Atwan, Series Editor
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
BOSTON • NEW YORK
2OO3
Copyright © 2003 by Houghton Mifflin Company
Introduction copyright © 2003 by Anne Fadiman
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
The Best American Essays is a registered trademark of Houghton Mifflin Company.
No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any
information storage or retrieval system without the prior written permission of the
copyright owner unless such copying is expressly permitted by federal copyright
law. With the exception of nonprofit transcription in Braille, Houghton Mifflin is
not authorized to grant permission for further uses of copyrighted selections reprinted in this book without the permission of their owners. Permission must be obtained from the individual copyright owners as identified herein. Address requests
for permission to make copies of Houghton Mifflin material to Permissions,
Houghton Mifflin Company, 215 Park Avenue South, New York, New York 10003.
ISSN 0888-3742
ISBN O-6l 8-34 l6o-g
ISBN 04518-34161-7 (pbk.)
Printed in the United States of America
MP 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
1
"Lavender" by Andre Aciman. First published in Harvard Review, Spring 2002. Copyright ©
2002 by Andre Aciman. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"I Bought a Bed" by Donald Antrim. First published in The New Yorker, June 17 and 24, 2002.
Copyright © 2002 by Donald Antrim. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"Lost Cities" by Rachel Cohen. First published in The Threepenny Review, Winter 2002. Copyright © 2002 by Rachel Cohen. Reprinted by permission of the author. Poetry and prose excerpts from C. P. Cavafy: Collected Poems by C. P. Cavafy, translated by Edmund Keeley and Philip
Sherrard. Translation copyright © 1972 by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard. Reprinted by
permission of Princeton University Press. Excerpt from The Book of Disquiet by Bernardo
Soares/Fernando Pessoa, translated by Alfred MacAdam. Translation copyright © 1991. Reprinted by permission of Pantheon Books, a division of Random House, Inc. Excerpts from The
Book of Disquietude by Fernando Pessoa, translated by Richard Zenith. Translation copyright ©
1996 by Richard Zenith. Reprinted by permission of Carcanet Press, Ltd. Lines from "Lisbon
Revisited" from Poems of Fernando Pessoa. Copyright © 1988 by Edwin Honig and Susan M.
Brown. Used by permission of Ecco.
"Yes" by Brian Doyle. First published in The Georgia Review, Summer 2002. Copyright © 2002
by Brian Doyle. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"In a Snob-Free Zone" by Joseph Epstein. First published in The Washington Monthly, June
2002. Copyright © 2002 by Joseph Epstein. Reprinted from Snobbery: The American Version by
permission of Houghton Mifflin Company.
"Mcmoria ex Marhina" by Marshall }on Fisher. First published in DoubleTake, Summer 2002.
()opyriglii <*) 2002 by Marshall Jon Fisher. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"Home Alone" by Caitlin Flanagan. First published in The Atlantic Monthly, September 2002.
Copyright © 2002 by Caitlin Flanagan. Reprinted by permission of the William Morris Agency,
Inc., on behalf of the author.
"Researchers Say" by Ian Frazier. First published in The Neiu Yorker, December g, 2002. Copyright © 2002 by Ian Frazier. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"The Learning Curve" by Atul Gawandc. First published in The Neiu Yorker, January 28, 2002.
Copyright © 2002 by Atul Gawande. Reprinted from Complications: A Young Surgeon's Notes on an
Imperfect Science by permission of Henry Holt and Company, LLC.
"Bumping Into Mr. Ravioli" by Adam Gopnik. First published in The New Yorker, September
30, 2002. Copyright © 2002 by Adam Gopnik. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"The Debacle" by Francine du Plessix Gray. First published in The American Scholar, Summer
2002. Copyright © 2002 by Francine du Plessix Gray. Reprinted by permission of Georges
Borchardt, Inc., on behalf of Francine du Plessix Gray.
"Circus Music" by Edward Hoagland. First published in Harpers Magazine, February 2002.
Copyright © 2002 by Edward Hoagland. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"F. P." by Myra Jehlen. First published in Raritan, Spring 2002. Copyright © 2002 by Myra
Jchlen. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"The Reporter's Kitchen" by Jane Kramer. First published in The New Yorker, August 2002.
Copyright © 2002 by Jane Kramer. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"Wooden Dollar" by Ben Metcalf. First published in Harpers Magazine, December 2002.
Copyright © 2002 by Ben Metcalf. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"A Delivery for Fred Astaire" by Frederic Morton. First published in Harpers Magazine, November 2002. Copyright © 2002 by Frederic Morton. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"An Animal's Place" by Michael Pollan. First published in The Neiu York Times Magazine, November 10, 2002. Copyright © 2002 by Michael Pollan. Reprinted by permission of International Creative Management.
"Learning to Drive" by Katha Pollitt. First published in The New Yorker, July 22, 2002. Copyright © 2002 by Katha Pollitt. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"Citizenship in Emergency" by Elaine Scarry. First published in Boston Review, October/November 2002. Copyright © 2002 by Elaine Scarry. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"Looking at War" by Susan Son tag. First published in The New Yorker, December 9, 2002.
Copyright © 2002 by Susan Sontag. Excerpt reprinted from Regarding the Pain of Others by permission of Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.
"The Habit" by Francis Spufford. First published in Granta. Copyright © 2002 by Francis
Spufford. Reprinted from The Child That Books Built by permission of Henry Holt and Company,
LLC.
"The Love of My Life" by Cheryl Strayed. First published in The Sun, September 2002. Copyright © 2002 by Cheryl Strayed. Reprinted by permission of the author. Lines from "Creep" by
Albert Hammon, Mike Hazlewood, Thomas Yorke, Richard Greenwood, Philip Selway, Colin
Greenwood, and Edward O'Brian. Copyright © 1993 by EMI April Music Inc. and Warner
Chappell Music, Ltd. All rights reserved. International copyright secured. Used by permission.
Contains elements of "The Air That I Breathe" by Albert Hammond and Mike Hazlewood.
Copyright © 1972 by EMI April Music Inc.
"Swann Song" by Judith Thurman. First published in The New Yorker, March 18, 2002. Copyright © 2002 by Judith Thurman. Reprinted by permission of The Wylie Agency, Inc.
"Whose War" by John Edgar Wideman. First published in Harper's Magazine, March 2002.
Copyright © 2002 byJohn Edgar Wideman. Reprinted by permission of The Wylic Agency, Inc.
Contents
Foreword by Robert Atwan ix
Introduction by Anne Fadiman xiv
ANDRE ACIMAN.
from Harvard Review
Lavender 1
D O N A L D ANTRIM.
I Bought a Bed
from The New Yorker
17
RACHEL COHEN. Lost Cities 38
from The Threepenny Review
BRIAN DOYLE. Yes 48
from The Georgia Review
JOSEPH EPSTEIN. In a
from The Washington Monthly
Snob-Free Zone 53
MARSHALL JON FISHER.
from DoubleTake
CAITLIN FLANAGAN.
from The Atlantic Monthly
Memoria ex Machina 61
Home Alone 67
I A N FRAZIER.
Researchers Say
from The New Yorker
79
A T U L G A W A N D E . The Learning Curve
from The New Yorker
83
Contents
via
ADAM GOPNIK.
Bumping Into Mr. Ravioli
from The New Yorker
F R A N C I N E D U P L E S S I X GRAY.
from The American Scholar
The Debacle 112
EDWARD HOAGLAND. CirCUS Music 125
Foreword
from Harper's Magazine
MYRA JEHLEN. E P. 136
from Raritan
JANE KRAMER.
The Reporter's Kitchen 146
from The New Yorker
BEN M E T C A L F . Wooden
from Harper's Magazine
F R E D E R I C MORTON.
from Harper's Magazine
Dollar 160
A Delivery for Fred Astaire
M I C H A E L P O L L A N . An Animal's Place 190
from The New York Times Magazine
K A T H A P O L L I T T . Learning to Drive
212
from The New Yorker
E L A I N E S C A R R Y . Citizenship in Emergency
223
from Boston Review
SUSAN S O N T A G .
Looking at War 243
from The New Yorker
F R A N C I S S P U F F O R D . The Habit
from Granta
CHERYL STRAYED.
from The Sun
J U D I T H THURMAN.
274
The Love of My Life 291
Swann Song 308
from The New Yorker
J O H N E D G A R W I D E M A N . Whose War 320
from Harper's Magazine
Biographical Notes 329
Notable Essays of 2002 334
174
T H I S YEAR marks the bicentennial of Ralph Waldo Emerson, who
was born on May 25, 1803, in Boston, not far from the present editorial offices of Houghton Mifflin, the publisher of this series.
When I first suggested the idea of an annual collection of the best
essays, back in 1985, I called it The Emerson Awards, in honor of
America's greatest essayist. Though my title didn't stick (wiser
heads prevailed), I continue to find it satisfying that the essay series
has been published by two of Emerson's own publishers — first
by Ticknor & Fields and then, starting with the 1994 book, by
Houghton Mifflin, which celebrated Emerson's centennial by publishing a magnificent twelve-volume edition of his Complete Works in
1903-04.
At first, I was disappointed to abandon the idea of the Emerson
Awards. He is, after all, the presiding genius of American literature. He means to us what Montaigne means to France, Cervantes
to Spain, or Goethe to Germany. Emerson defines and epitomizes
the American spirit and imagination. But the sad truth is that he is
not read much any longer outside college literature departments,
and even there his presence has diminished. Emerson's former
publisher was correct to find its renowned author's name in the title a risky proposition: it would sound academic and obsolete, perhaps even pedantic. Besides, at that time publishers were so worried about using the dreaded word "essay" in any way, shape, or
form that it was easy to imagine the combination of essays and Emerson amounting to a double whammy.
There's another reason that an Emerson Award was inappropri-
(GUEST EDITORS OF
THE BEST AMERICAN ESSAYS
1986
ELIZABETH HARDWICK
1987
GAY TALESE
1988
ANNIE DILLARD
1989
GEOFFREY WOLFF
1990 JUSTIN KAPLAN
1991
JOYCE CAROL OATES
1992
SUSAN SONTAG
1993 JOSEPH EPSTEIN
1994
TRACY KIDDER
The Best
AMERICAN
ESSAYS®
2004
1995 JAMAICA KINCAID
1996
GEOFFREY C. WARD
1997
IAN FRAZIER
1998
CYNTHIA OZICK
1999
EDWARD HOAGLAND
2000
ALAN LIGHTMAN
2001
KATHLEEN NORRIS
2002
STEPHEN JAY GOULD
2003
ANNE FADIMAN
2004
LOUIS MENAND
Edited and with an Introduction
by L o u i s MENAND
Robert Atwan, Series Editor
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
BOSTON • NEW YORK
2OO4
w
Copyright © 2004 by Houghton Mifflin Company
Introduction copyright © 2004 by Louis Menand
ALL
/
/ X
r
RIGHTS
RESERVED
The Best American Series and The Best American Essays are registered trademarks of
Houghton Mifflin Company.
No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any
information storage or retrieval system without the prior written permission of the
copyright owner unless such copying is expressly permitted by federal copyright
law. With the exception of nonprofit transcription in Braille, Houghton Mifflin is
not authorized to grant permission for further uses of copyrighted selections reprinted in this book without the permission of their owners. Permission must be
obtained from the individual copyright owners as identified herein. Address requests for permission to make copies of Houghton Mifflin material to Permissions,
Houghton Mifflin Company, 215 Park Avenue South, New York, New York 10003.
ISSN 0888-3742
ISBN 0-618-35706-8
ISBN 0-618-35709-2 (pbk.)
Printed in the United States of America
VB
1 0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
"America, Look at Your Shame!" by James Agee. First published in Oxford American, January/February 2003. Copyright © 2003 by The James Agee Trust. Reprinted by permission of The Wylie Agency, Inc.
"Envy" by Kathryn Chetkovich. First published in Granta, Summer 2003. Copyright © 2003 by Kathryn Chetkovich. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"The Last Americans" by Jared Diamond. First published in Harper's Magazine,
June 2003. Copyright © 2003 by Jared Diamond. Reprinted by permission of the
author.
"The Arctic Hedonist" by Anne Fadiman. First published in The American Scholar,
Winter 2003. Copyright © 2003 by Anne Fadiman. Reprinted by permission of
Lescher & Lescher, Ltd.
"Caught" by Jonathan Franzen. First published in The New Yorker, June 16 and 23,
2003. Copyright © 2003 by Jonathan Franzen. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"The Unreal Thing" by Adam Gopnik. First published in The New Yorker, May 19,
2003. Copyright © 2003 by Adam Gopnik. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"A Sudden Illness" by Laura Hillenbrand. First published in The Neut Yorker, July
7, 2003. Copyright <D 2003 by Laura Hillenbrand. Reprinted by permission of the
author.
"Passover in Baghdad" bv Tim Judah. First published in Granta, Summer 2003.
Copyright © 2003 bv Tim Judah. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"Mv '80s" bv Wayne Koestenbaum. First published in Artforum, April 2003. Copyright © 2003 bv Wayne Koestenbaum. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"My Yiddish" by Leonard Michaels. First published in The Threepenny Review, Fall
2003. Copyright © 2003 by The Leonard and Katharine Ogden Michaels Living
Trust. Reprinted by permission ol The Leonard and Katharine Ogden Michaels Living Trust.
"Bix and Flannery" by Ben Miller. First published in Raritan, Spring 2003. Copyright © 2003 by Ben Miller. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"Against Cool" by Rick Moody. First published in Gingko Tree Revieiv, vol. 1, no. 1
(February 20, 2003). Copyright © 2003 by Rick Moody. Reprinted by permission of
the Melanie Jackson Agency, LLC. Lines from A Coney Island of the Mind by Lawrence Ferlinghetti copyright © 1958 by Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp. Excerpt from The Electric Kool-Aid Acid
Test by Tom Wolfe copyright © 1968, renewed 1996 by Tom Wolfe. Reprinted by
permission of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC. Lines from "Howl" by Allen Ginsberg, from Howl and Otlier Poems, City Lights Books. Copyright © 1956 by Allen
Ginsberg. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Ltd. Lines from
"First Party at Ken Kesey's with Hell's Angels" by Allen Ginsberg, from The Fall of
America, City Lights Books. Copyright © 1965 by Allen Ginsberg. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Ltd.
"Yarn" by Kyoko Mori. First published in Harvard Review, Spring 2003. Copyright
© 2003 by Kyoko Mori. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"Lifelike" by Susan Orlean. First published in The New Yorker, June 9, 2003. Copyright © 2003 by Susan Orlean. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"Rock 101" by Alex Ross. First published in The New Yorker, July 14 and 21, 2003.
Copyright © 2003 by Alex Ross. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"The Mind's Eye" by Oliver Sacks. First published in The New Yorker, July 28,
2003. Copyright © 2003 by Oliver Sacks. Reprinted by permission of The Wylie
Agency, Inc.
"My Lost City" by Luc Sante. First published in The New York Review of Books, November 6, 2003. Copyright © 2003 by Luc Sante. Reprinted by permission of the
author.
"Arrow and Wound" by Mark Slouka. First published in Harper's Magazine, May
2003. Copyright © 2003 by Mark Slouka. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"My Father Is a Book" by Janna Malamud Smith. First published in The
Threepenny Review, Summer 2003. Copyright © 2003 by Janna Malamud Smith. Reprinted by permission of Miriam Altshuler Literary Agency on behalf of the author.
"Bullet in My Neck" by Gerald Stern. First published in The Georgia Review, Fall
2003. Copyright © 2003 by Gerald Stern. Reprinted from What I Can't Bear Losing:
Sotes from a Life, by permission of W. W. Norton & Company.
"Amor Perdida" by Tennessee Williams. First published in Michigan Quarterly Review, Summer 2003. Copyright © 2003 by The Estate of Tennessee Williams. Reprinted by permission.
"An Enlarged Heart" by Cynthia Zarin. First published in The New Yorker, August
18. 2003. Copyright © 2003 by Cynthia Zarin. Reprinted by permission of the author.
Contents
i
Foreword by Robert Atwan ix
Introduction by Louis Menand xiv
J A M E S A G E E . America,
from Oxford American
Look at Your Shame! 1
KATHRYN CHETKOVICH. Envy
from Granta
JARED DIAMOND.
from Harper's Magazine
9
The Last Americans 30
ANNE FADIMAN. The Arctic
from The American Scholar
Hedonist 48
JONATHAN FRANZEN. Caught
from The New Yorker
ADAM GOPNIK. The
from The New Yorker
6l
Unreal Thing 86
96
LAURA HILLENBRAND. A
from The Naif Yorker
T I M JUDAH
from Granta
. Passover in Baghdad
114
WAYNE KOESTENBAUM. My '80s 128
from Artforum
Vlll
Contents
L E O N A R D M I C H A E L I S . My Yiddish
from The Threepenny Review
BEN MILLER . Bix and Flannery
from Raritan
RICK M O O D Y . Against
from Gingko Tree Review
KYOKO M O R I . Yarn
from. Harvard Review
138
15 2
Cool 160
Foreword
194
SUSAN O R L E A N . Lifelike 203
from The New Yorker
ALEX ROSS. Rock 101 213
from The New Yorker
O L I V E R S A C K S . The Mind's Eye 225
from The New Yorker
LUC S A N T E .
My Lost City 246
from The New York Review of Books
MARK S L O U K A . Arrow and Wound 257
from Harper's Magazine
J A N N A M A L A M U D S M I T H . My Father Is
from The Threepenny Review
G E R A L D S T E R N . Bullet in My Neck 277
from The Georgia Review
T E N N E S S E E W I L L I A M S . Amor
from Michigan Quarterly Review
a Book 269
Perdida 287
C Y N T H I A Z A R I N . An Enlarged Heart 293
from The New Yorker
Biographical Notes 311
Notable Essays of 2003 316
As T H E N E W C E N T U R Y anxiously arrived, I made a resolution to
form an amiable discussion group that each year would read a few
essay collections and nonfiction books published exactly one hundred years before. My group still consists of one person, myself, but
I recommend the practice — each reading is like celebrating an
anniversary. Last year I renewed acquaintance with three classics:
W.E.B. Du Bois's The Souls of Black Folk, Jack London's The People of
the Abyss, and Helen Keller's The Story of My Life. This year one of
my favorites is Compromises by Agnes Repplier. I happen to own a
hardcover copy of this volume of essays, published by Houghton
Mifflin in 1904. Its advertised gilt top is still shiny and inviting, but
until this year I had never poked around inside to sample the contents. The book originally cost $1.10, and I doubt I paid much
more at the used-book store where I unearthed it.
A century has done little damage to this tight little book. Although its green cloth cover has faded to a shade as yet unnamed
by Benjamin Moore, Compromises remains in remarkably healthy
condition, a pleasure to handle and peruse: crisp thick paper, wide
margins, a friendly and open typeface. You can cover all the print
on the page with a standard three-by-five index card. As a deliberately slow reader, someone who silently voices a good sentence
over several times just to admire its architecture and rhythm, I've
grown fond of small, open pages that permit me the illusion of
reading more rapidly than I actually do. My halting pace remains
the same; the illusion of course comes from the action of turning
pages more frequently, a satisfyingly tangible measure of progress
we miss on a computer screen.
GUEST EDITORS OF
THE BEST AMERICAN ESSAYS
1986
ELIZABETH HARDWICK
1987
GAY TALESE
1988
ANNIE DILLARD
1989
GEOFFREY WOLFF
1990 JUSTIN KAPLAN
1991 JOYCE CAROL OATES
1992
SUSAN SONTAG
1993 JOSEPH EPSTEIN
1994
TRACY KIDDER
The Best
AMERICAN
8
ESSAYS
2005
1995 JAMAICA KINCAID
1996
GEOFFREY C. WARD
1997
IAN FRAZIER
1998
CYNTHIA OZICK
1999
EDWARD HOAGLAND
2000
ALAN LIGHTMAN
2001
KATHLEEN NORRIS
2002
STEPHEN JAY GOULD
2003
ANNE FADIMAN
2004
LOUIS MENAND
2005
SUSAN ORLEAN
Edited and with an Introduction
by SUSAN O R L E A N
Robert Atwan, Series Editor
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
BOSTON • NEW YORK
2OO5
?
u
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company
Introduction copyright © 2005 by Susan Orlean
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
The Best American Series and The Best American Essays are registered trademarks of
Houghton Mifflin Company.
No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any
information storage or retrieval system without the prior written permission of the
copyright owner unless such copying is expressly permitted by federal copyright
law. With the exception of nonprofit transcription in Braille, Houghton Mifflin
is not authorized to grant permission for further uses of copyrighted selections
reprinted in this book without the permission of their owners. Permission must be
obtained from the individual copyright owners as identified herein. Address requests for permission to make copies of Houghton Mifflin material to Permissions,
Houghton Mifflin Company, 215 Park Avenue South, New York, New York 10003.
ISSN: 0888-3742
ISBN-13: 978-O-618-35712-3
ISBN-13: 978-0-618-35713-0 (pbk.)
ISBN-1O: O-618-35712-2
ISBN-10: 0-618-35713-0 (pbk.)
Printed in the United States of America
MP 1 0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
"La Vie en Rose" by Roger Angell. First published in The New Yorker, February 16
and 23, 2004. Copyright © 2004 by Roger Angell. Reprinted by permission of International Creative Management, Inc.
"The Sea of Information" by Andrea Barrett. First published in The Kenyon Review, Summer 2004. Copyright © 2004 by Andrea Barrett. Reprinted by permission
of The Wendy Weil Agency, Inc.
"Storm Country" by Paul Crenshaw. First published in Southern Humanities Review, Winter 2004. Copyright © 2004 by Paul Crenshaw. Reprinted by permission of
the author.
'Joyas Voladoras" by Brian Doyle. First published in The American Scholar, Autumn
2004. Copyright © 2004 by Brian Doyle. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"Sister Bernadette's Barking Dog" by Kitty Burns Florey. First published in Vocabula Review, November 2004. Copyright © 2004 by Kitty Burns Florey. Reprinted by
permission of the author.
"The Comfort Zone" by Jonathan Franzen. First published in The New Yorker, November 29, 2004. Copyright © 2004 by Jonathan Franzen. Reprinted by permission
of the author. Peanuts: © United Feature Syndicate, Inc.
"If Memory Doesn't Serve" by Ian Frazier. First published in The Atlantic Monthly,
October 2004. Copyright © 2004 by Ian Frazier. Reprinted by permission of The
Wylie Agency, Inc.
"Against Exercise" by Mark Greif. First published in n+i, no. 1, Fall 2004. Copyright © 2004 by Mark Greif. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"Small Silences" by Edward Hoagland. First published in Harper's Magazine, July
2004. Copyright © 2004 by Edward Hoagland. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"Small Rooms in Time" by Ted Kooser. First published in River Teeth, Spring
2004. Copyright © 2004 by Ted Kooser. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"Speak, Hoyt-Schermerhorn" by Jonathan Lethem. First published in Harper's
Magazine, December 2004. Copyright © 2004 by Jonathan Lethem. Reprinted by
permission of Random House, Inc.
"Mastering the Art of French Cooking" by E. J. Levy. First published in Salmagundi, Fall-Winter 2004. Copyright © 2004 by E. J. Levy. Reprinted by permission of
the author.
"Contributor's Note" by Michael Martone. First published in Fly way, Spring
2004. Copyright © 2004 by Michael Martone. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"My Friend Lodovico" by David Masello. First published in the New York Times,
February 8, 2004. Copyright © 2004 by the New York Times Company. Reprinted
with permission.
"Living Will" by Danielle Ofri. First published in The Missouri Review, Spring
2004. Copyright © 2004 by Danielle Ofri. Reprinted by permission of Beacon Press,
Boston.
"Dog Days" by Sam Pickering. First published in River Teeth, Spring 2004. Copyright © 2004 by Sam Pickering. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"Speed" by Oliver Sacks. First published in The New Yorker, August 23, 2004.
Copyright © 2004 by Oliver Sacks. Reprinted by permission of The Wylie Agency,
Inc.
"Dog Trouble" by Cathleen Schine. First published in The New Yorker, January 5,
2005. Copyright © 2004 by Cathleen Schine. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"Old Faithful" by David Sedaris. First published in The New Yorker, November 29,
2004. Copyright © 2004 by David Sedaris. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"Six Seconds" by Paula Speck. First published in Meridian, May 2004. Copyright
© 2004 by Paula Speck. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"Skill Display in Birding Groups" by Bert O. States. First published in The North
American Review, January-February 2004. Copyright © 2004 by Bert O. States. Reprinted by permission of Nancy States.
"The Prince of Possibility" by Robert Stone. First published in The New Yorker,
June 14 and 21, 2004. Copyright © 2004 by Robert Stone. Reprinted by permission
of Donadio & Olson, Inc.
"Dining with Robots" by Ellen Ullman. First published in The American Scholar,
Autumn 2004. Copyright © 2004 by Ellen Ullman. Reprinted by permission of the
author.
"Consider the Lobster" by David Foster Wallace. First published in Gourmet, August 2004. Copyright © 2004 by David Foster Wallace. Reprinted by permission of
the author.
"Satin Worship" by Holly Welker. First published in PMS, no. 4. Copyright ©
2004 by Holly Welker. Reprinted by permission of the author.
Contents
Foreword by Robert Atwan ix
Introduction by Susan Orlean xv
R O G E R A N G E L L . La Vie en Rose 1
from The New Yorker
ANDREA B A R R E T T . The Sea of Information 9
from The Kenyon Review
PAUL C R E N S H A W . Storm Country 21
from Southern Humanities Review
B R I A N D O Y L E . Joyas Voladoras
28
from The American Scholar
K I T T Y B U R N S F L O R E Y . Sister Bernadette's Barking Dog
from Harper's Magazine
J O N A T H A N F R A N Z E N . The Comfort Zone
from The New Yorker
IAN F R A Z I E R . If Memory Doesn't Serve 5 6
from The Atlantic Monthly
M A R K G R E I F . Against Exercise 62
from n + i
EDWARD H O A G L A N D . Small Silences 74
from Harper's Magazine
TED K O O S E R . Small Rooms in Time 100
from River Teeth
37
31
Contents
Vlll
J O N A T H A N LETHEM . Speak, Hoyt-Schermerhorn 106
from Harper's Magazine
E. J. L E V Y . Mastering the Art of French Cooking 121
from Salmagundi
MICHAEL MARTONE.
from Flyway
DAVID MASELLO.
Contributor's Note 131
Foreword
My Friend Lodovico 135
from The New York Times
D A N I E L L E O F R I . Living
from The Missouri Review
SAM P I C K E R I N G .
from River Teeth
Will 139
Dog Days 151
O L I V E R SACKS. Speed 161
from TheNewYorker
CATHLEEN SCHINE.
Dog Trouble 181
from The New Yorker
DAVID S E D A R I S . Old Faithful
from The New Yorker
PAULA S P E C K .
from Meridian
BERT
195
Six Seconds 203
o. STATES. Skill Display in Birding Groups 208
from The North American Review
R O B E R T S T O N E . The Prince of Possibility
222
from The New Yorker
E L L E N U L L M A N . Dining with Robots
242
from The American Scholar
DAVID FOSTER WALLACE.
Consider the Lobster 252
from Gourmet
HOLLY WELKER.
from PMS
Satin Worship 271
Biographical Notes 279
Notable Essays of 2004 285
volume in The Best American Essays series. When I began work on the first book in 1985, the timing
didn't look promising. Most major magazines were so heavily into
journalism and commentary that they rarely welcomed the type of
ruminative pieces that veteran editors — eschewing the word "essay" — habitually called "thumb sucking." Though they were being
published, memoirs (then largely still a plural) hadn't yet captured
the public attention as the singular "memoir" eventually would. Essays tended to be concealed here and there, for the most part in little magazines, and the essayists themselves seemed to be an apologetic breed.
With that in mind, I nervously contributed to the first book a
foreword that began with E. B. White's disheartening comment,
made some nine years earlier, that he was not "fooled about the
place of the essayist in twentieth-century American letters." "The
essayist," he said, "unlike the novelist, the poet, and the playwright,
must be content in his self-imposed role of second-class citizen." I
hoped that this was no longer true and that the series would showcase what I considered to be a long-neglected genre in the exciting
process of being revitalized by an emerging group of younger writers and journalists.
Despite what looked like a rekindling of the form, my publishers
at Ticknor & Fields (then an imprint of Hough ton Mifflin) and I
prudently agreed that "essay" remained an off-putting term, still
too closely associated in most people's minds with the dreaded
classroom assignment. (Perhaps it still is: a New York Times crossT H I S IS THE T W E N T I E T H