Writing New York: A Literary Anthology [Paperback]

Phillip Lopate (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 31, 2008

“Few cities,” writes Phillip Lopate in his introduction to this historic anthology, “have inspired as much great writing as New York.” Here Lopate and The Library of America present a sweeping literary portrait of the city as seen through the eyes of over a hundred writers. Residents and tourists, novelists and poets, architects, politicians, social reformers, naturalists, humorists—in unexpected and dazzling ways the writers in this volume take on the challenge of capturing New York’s enduring spirit, its constantly changing public spectacle, its gossip, amusements, hard-luck stories, and tragedies. This paperback edition includes an expanded introduction and additional selections be Don DeLillo, Colson Whitehead, and Vijay Seshadri, bringing the story up to the present.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Few cities on earth exert New York's pull on the literary imagination. There may be nothing like Paris in springtime, or a foggy day in London Town, but for sheer page volume, neither of these can rival the city that never sleeps. In celebration of Greater New York's centenary, the Library of America has assembled almost 200 years' worth of literary Gothamiana--no small task, given the scope from which they had to choose. The result is a hefty, pleasingly eclectic anthology that works as both historical document and literary revelation. Editor Phillip Lopate has wisely chosen to include both the familiar (Melville's "Bartleby the Scrivener," Whitman's "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry") and the unknown (the diaries of English actress Fanny Kemble). Edith Wharton, Oscar Hijuelos, Henry Miller, Willa Cather, Tom Wolfe, Hart Crane: these are only a few of the writers who offer up their takes on the city, in terms that vary from nostalgic to cynical, romantic to tart. "I want this new novel to be delicate and cutting--nothing will cut New York but a diamond," observes Dawn Powell; "I don't like the city better, the more I see it, but worse," writes a homesick Thoreau. F. Scott Fitzgerald mourns the giddy New York of 1919, his "lost city," while E.B. White lauds the metropolis for its dual bequests, "the gift of loneliness and the gift of privacy." Vibrant, opinionated, more than a little bit overwhelming, the anthology is a fitting tribute to a city whose most enduring characteristic is the speed at which it can change. In the words of E.B. White, "A poem compresses much in a small space and adds music, thus heightening its meaning. The city is like poetry: it compresses all life, all races and breeds, into a small island and adds music and the accompaniment of internal engines." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Celebrating the 100th anniversary of the union of New York City's five boroughs, this single volume collects the work of 108 writers who together create a literary portrait of the city. Arranged chronologically by approximate date of composition, the writings include poetry, essays, fiction, memoirs, diaries, letters, and journalism, but exclude excerpts from the many great New York novels. Familiar and much-anthologized pieces like Washington's Irving's "A History of New York" and E.B. White's "Here Is New York" share space with lesser-known diary excerpts from Philip Hone and Dawn Powell, autobiographical writings by Henry Miller and Langston Hughes, "walking around" poems by Frank O'Hara and James Schuyler, and scores of other NYC-inspired works, all coalescing to capture the force and personality of the Big Apple. Each entry is prefaced by a brief biographical sketch of the writer. This unique collection is a bargain and deserves to be in every library.?Cathy Sabol, Northern Virginia Community Coll., Herndon
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 1050 pages
• Publisher: Library of America; Expanded edition (January 31, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1598530216
• ISBN-13: 978-1598530216
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #22,311 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #12 in Books > History > Historical Study > Essays
  • #46 in Books > Literature & Fiction > United States > Collections & Readers

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A classic collection of literary and historical New York, February 3, 1999

By 

Author Bill Peschel "Writers Gone Wild" (Hershey, PA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Writing New York : A Literary Anthology (Library of America) (Hardcover)

This anthology of fiction and memoirs about America's first city offers as vivid a picture of New York City life and attitudes as any history book. Open the book at random, and there is something worth reading: George Templeton Strong wondering in his diary: "Is it the doom of all men in this century to be weighed down with the incumbrance of a desire to make money and save money, all their days?" (in 1852!); Stephen Crane writing of a man's moral dilemma over the false arrest of a possible prostitute; Ralph Ellison noting in "New York, 1936" that: "in the hustle and bustle of that most theatrical of American cities, one was accepted on the basis of what one appeared to be."

Then there's the fiction and the anthropological excerpts which offer pleasures of their own. One of Damon Runyon's stories about the "Guys and Dolls" of Broadway is here, a tougher story than one would expect from him. A selection from Oscar Hijuelos' "The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love" is here as well. Joseph Mitchell's "Up in the Old Hotel," an observation piece written for The New Yorker and Zora Neale Hurston's "Story in Harlem Slang."

"Writing New York" is a convivial convention, probably the only gathering of New York wits and writers and reporters we're likely to see this side of heaven. Reading it alongside "Gotham" from Oxford University Press fleshes out a portrait of a great city that may be down at times, but can never be counted out.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing Tribute to the Phenomena of NYC, August 5, 2002

By 

Wisewoman (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Writing New York : A Literary Anthology (Library of America) (Hardcover)

This collection was the centerpiece of a course I recently took on Literary NY. Every piece of writing in this collection is memorable, evoking the timelessness of the place, from Washington Irving to Joan Didion, with a wide spectrum between. There are wonderful observational and personal essays, socio-political satires, poetry and short fiction all highlighting the on-going phenomena of this most fascinating of cities. The writers, some well-known and some lost in their time, all record from the heart. What struck me most while reading these wonderful pieces, is how some things truly never change, and how so many of the 'progressive' changes irrevocably destroyed the natural rhythms and space. There is something of interest here for everyone. I strongly recommend this collection.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars City of Inspiration, July 18, 2009

By 

Jeffrey Swystun (Ottawa & New York) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Writing New York: A Literary Anthology (Paperback)

New York is a broad canvass that writers have taken on for centuries and in so doing both celebrated and debated its greatness. Lopate has gathered an amazing collection of essays and stories from Washington Irving to Stephen Crane to John Cheevor all the way to Don DeLillo with even a piece from Robert Moses (the very much debated urban planner).

I love virtually all things New York (the lone exception perhaps be La Guardia airport my gateway to the city) and this was a gift to read. I was exposed to a host of new authors while at the same time feeling like I was experiencing the development of New York through its seminal historic and social moments (much like the main character in Pete Hamill's "Forever"). And Lopate's introduction leaps off the pages and captures the fast tempo and urgency of the city, he writes:

"New York's essence, literary or otherwise, grows out of the street experience, the basis for an aesthetic of a ragged, miraculous simultaneity. New York has from the start been an extroverted, not a covert, place; its man-made geography and network of mass transports provide the basic cue, the beat from which all else follows."

And from this fine introduction, a steady stream of stories makes its way not unlike the commuters, tourists, immigrants, delivery persons, hawkers, activists, money-makers, police and others have done for many decades on the vibrant and contradictory streets of New York.