Best of
Essays

1954

The Art of Eating


M.F.K. Fisher - 1954
    Fisher, whose wit and fulsome opinions on food and those who produce it, comment upon it, and consume it are as apt today as they were several decades ago, when she composed them. Why did she choose food and hunger she was asked, and she replied, 'When I write about hunger, I am really writing about love and the hunger for it, and warmth, and the love of it . . . and then the warmth and richness and fine reality of hunger satisfied.

Quite Early One Morning: Stories


Dylan Thomas - 1954
    Many of the 25 short stories, autobiographical sketches and essays in Quite Early One Morning, a volume planned by Thomas shortly before his death, were read by him on such occasions. They are alive with his verbal magic, his intense perception of life, his gargantuan humor and with the very ring of his voice.Included in this collection of prose pieces are such favorites as the hilarious “A Visit to America,” the account of a small boy’s marvelous day’s outing—“A Story,” and the memorable “A Child’s Christmas in Wales,” which has been called ‘the twentieth century Christmas Carol.’ Other pieces show Thomas’s power as a sensitive critic of poetry and as an exponent of his own intent as a poet.

Literary Essays of Ezra Pound


Ezra Pound - 1954
    Eliot, contains essays from five earlier volumes: Pavannes and Divisions (1918), Instigations(1920), How to Read(1931), Make it New(1934), and Polite Essays(1937). The thirty-three essays contained in this collection are separated into three categories: The Art of Poetry, The Tradition, and Contemporaries. These essays showcase the range of Pound's interests, with topics ranging from modernist poetry to Japanese iconography, troubadour songs, and much more. Pound's influence on the modernist movement and literature as a whole makes this collection an important piece of literary history. With an introduction by T.S. Eliot.

The Benchley Roundup


Robert Benchley - 1954
    Benchley's sketches and articles, published in periodicals like Life, Vanity Fair, and The New Yorker, earned him a reputation as one of the sharpest humorists of his time; his influence—on contemporaries such as E. B. White, James Thurber, and S. J. Perelman, or followers like Woody Allen, Steve Martin, and Richard Pryor—has left an indelible mark on the American comic tradition. The Benchley Roundup collects those pieces, selected by Benchley's son Nathaniel, "which seem to stand up best over the years"-a compendium of the most endearing and enduring work from one of America's funniest and most penetrating wits."It took me fifteen years to discover that I had no talent for writing, but I couldn't give it up because by then I was too famous."—Robert Benchley

The Second Tree from the Corner


E.B. White - 1954
    But no matter what his subject, Mr. White always writes about it in a prose that is a joy to read."--New York Times

Labour, Nationality and Religion


James Connolly - 1954
    

The Incurable Wound


Berton Roueché - 1954
    narratives of medical detection

Spirit and Nature: Papers from the Eranos Yearbooks 1


Joseph Campbell - 1954
    Distinguished scholars from Europe, Asia, and America have been invited to a "shared feast" (eranos) and have lectured on themes chosen by the Director of Eranos, the late Olga Froebe-Kapteyn. The lectures originally appeared in the "Eranos-Jahrbucher" (Zurich), and selections translated into English have been published in "Papers from the Eranos Yearbooks," of which this is the first volume. The volume was translated by Ralph Manheim, except for the papers by C.G. Jung, which were translated by R.F.C. Hull. The editor is Joseph Campbell.