others, like those of Rafael Lara Martinez and Silvia Lucinda .... formed part of the volume Cuentos de. Barro, Narrativa ...... GarcÃa Márquez. Some viewers may have noticed the signs on the streets of Havana in David. Bradbury's recent film, Fond
I tried to make sense of the Four Books, until love arrived, and it all became a single syllable. Yunus
Idea Transcript
Contents Preface
ix
INTRODUCTION: READING AND WRITING ESSAYS
1
History and Context 1 Pleasures of the Essay 5 Types of Essays 7 Reading Essays 9 Reading Annie Dillard’s “Living Like Weasels” 10 Writing Essays 15 The Qualities of Good Writing 15 An Overview of the Writing Process 16 Planning 16 Drafting 17 Revising 18 Writing from Reading—An Example 19 Arriving at an Interpretation 30 SUSAN SONTAG’S “A Woman’s Beauty: Put-Down or Power Source?” 31 MAYA ANGELOU Graduation
35
GLORIA ANZALDÚA How to Tame a Wild Tongue FRANCIS BACON Of Studies
48
60
JAMES BALDWIN Notes of a Native Son DAVE BARRY Road Warrior
63
84 v
vi * Contents
SUSAN BROWNMILLER Femininity 88 JUDITH ORTIZ COFER The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria 94 BERNARD COOPER Burl’s 102 JOAN DIDION Marrying Absurd 113 ANNIE DILLARD Living Like Weasels
118
FREDERICK DOUGLASS Learning to Read and Write
124
GRETEL EHRLICH About Men 131 LOREN EISELEY The Flow of the River RALPH ELLISON Living with Music
136
144
RALPH WALDO EMERSON Nature 154 E.M. FORSTER What I Believe
158
ELLEN GOODMAN The Company Man
168
MARY GORDON More than Just a Shrine—Ellis Island STEPHEN JAY GOULD Women’s Brains
177
EDWARD HOAGLAND The Courage of Turtles LANGSTON HUGHES Salvation 193
185
171
Contents * vii
THOMAS JEFFERSON The Declaration of Independence
197
JAMAICA KINCAID On Seeing England for the First Time MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. Letter from Birmingham Jail
206
218
MAXINE HONG KINGSTON On Discovery 236 ABRAHAM LINCOLN The Gettysburg Address
239
NICCOLÒ MACHIAVELLI The Morals of the Prince
241
NANCY MAIRS On Being a Cripple
251
N. SCOTT MOMADAY The Way to Rainy Mountain
265
MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE Of Smells 272 GEORGE ORWELL Shooting an Elephant
276
CYNTHIA OZICK The Seam of the Snail
285
RICHARD RODRIQUEZ Heading into Darkness Once Again SCOTT RUSSELL SANDERS Under the Influence
289
293
RICHARD SELZER The Masked Marvel’s Last Toehold
307
ELIZABETH CADY STANTON Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions
313
BRENT STAPLES Just Walk on By: Black Men and Public Space
317
viii * Contents
AMY TAN Mother Tongue
322
DEBORAH TANNEN Different Words, Different Worlds HENRY DAVID THOREAU Why I Went to the Woods JAMES THURBER University Days
329
346
353
SOJOURNER TRUTH Aren’t I a Woman
360
MARK TWAIN Reading the River
363
ALICE WALKER Beauty: When the Other Dancer Is the Self E.B. WHITE Once More to the Lake TOM WOLFE Only One Life
376
384
MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT A Vindication of the Rights of Women VIRGINIA WOOLF The Death of the Moth RICHARD WRIGHT Writing and Reading Credits Index