Somehow, Best American Essays 2009 slipped down my Read Real Soon stack. This week I rescued it and read the various essays that make up this annual edition. My favorite essay is “Faustian Economics” by Wendell Berry. Berry’s elegant essay explores the folly of “unlimited growth, unlimited spending, unlimited consumption.” Patricia Hempl’s “The Dark Art of Description” explores the importance of description in fiction and essays. “Our Vanishing Night” by Verlyn Klinkenborg shows that we are polluting the night with light resulting in disruptions of migratory patterns in birds and the behavior of nocturnal animals. Michael Lewis’ humorous “The Mansion: A Subprime Parable” tells how Lewis foolishly rented a mansion at the cost of $13,000 per month (plus expenses). Yikes! Perhaps the most poignant essay in this volume is John Updike’s “The Writer in Winter.” Written shortly before his death, “The Writer in Winter” delivers Updike’s final words on growing old yet still writing. This is a very moving essay. Regardless of your interests, you’ll find the range of essays in Best American Essays 2009 wide and deep. GRADE: A
I remember reading several essays by Patricia Hempl some years back. And fiction by Wendell Berry.
Both Wendell Berry and Patricia Hempl are terrific essayists, Patti. They show up in these BEST AMERICA ESSAY collections on a regular basis.
I’d read it if only for the Updike piece.
“The Writer in Winter” will go down as one of Updike’s great essays, Jeff. He knew the End was near and he had the courage to write about it.