The Oxford Book of American Essays

Metadata

Gutenberg ID

40196

Title

The Oxford Book of American Essays

Language

en

Book source

Project Gutenberg

Description max 80 words

Curated by Brander Matthews, this anthology showcases the distinct American voice within the broader English literary tradition. Featuring iconic essayists like Franklin, Emerson, and Thoreau, the collection explores diverse themes from social commentary to nature and philosophy, capturing the unique spirit of American letters.

Summary up to 500 words

Brander Matthews' *The Oxford Book of American Essays* presents a definitive collection of prose that illustrates the unique character of American literature as a distinct branch of the English language. Editor Brander Matthews argues that while American writers share the idiom of their British counterparts, they possess an indefinable national flavor shaped by different social atmospheres and organizations. The volume deliberately excludes strict literary criticism and fiction to focus on the essay form, ranging from the whimsical to the grave. It includes seminal works by Benjamin Franklin, Washington Irving, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allan Poe, Henry David Thoreau, and Walt Whitman, among others. The selections demonstrate the essay's versatility, evolving from the discursive meditations of Montaigne and Bacon to the character sketches of Steele and Addison. Matthews highlights how American essayists, though fewer in number than their British contemporaries, achieved cosmopolitan fame and offered a rich variety of perspectives. The book serves as a testament to the idea that American literature is a condition of English literature, possessing its own richness and variety that has revealed itself over the past century. Matthews contends that the literature of a language is one and indivisible; just as Alexandrian literature is Greek, American literature is English. However, he acknowledges that American authors, from Franklin to Whitman, possess a specific flavor distinguishing them from British writers like Carlyle or Browning. This distinction arises because the social atmosphere and organization differ on the opposite shores of the Atlantic. While British literature is richer and more varied, the American branch has its own distinctiveness, having revealed its qualities primarily in the last hundred years. The collection showcases authors who, despite being fewer in number, have won wide popularity outside their own language, a feat unmatched by many German, Italian, or Spanish authors of the nineteenth century. Matthews notes that the American essay is characterized by ease, lightness, and variety, qualities almost unthinkable in German literature and far less frequent in French. The volume includes poets venturing into prose, novelists eschewing story-telling, and statesmen discussing lighter matters, all united by a familiar style, everyday vocabulary, and a scorn for affectation. The editor's introduction explains his selection principles, excluding purely literary criticism and set orations while including papers originally prepared for reading aloud, such as many of Emerson's essays. The collection captures the spirit of the essay as a chameleon, changing color while studied, reflecting the diverse voices that have shaped the American contribution to the English literary tradition.

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4.2/5

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Categories

• Essays