Karl Claus takes on the subject of the "self" in the personal essay, exploring the different facets--even facades--that makes up the self in the personal essay. The problem of pinning
down the self is exactly where Carl Klaus starts in his exploration The Made-up Self: Impersonation in the
Personal Essay. In the prologue, Klaus writes that
The
person in a personal essay is a written construct, a fabricated thing, a
character of sorts—the sound of its voice a by-product of carefully chosen
words, its recollection of experience, its run of thought and feeling, much
tidier than the mess of memories, thoughts, and feelings arising in one’s
consciousness.
Though the cover of the
book describes it as literary criticism/reference/writing, Klaus doesn’t give
the reader what might be expected by these classifications—a solely informative
look at the personal essay form. Instead, he says that “given my addiction to
the personal essay, I could not resist the temptation to write about it in the
freewheeling form of essays, nor could I resist the enticing roles an essayist
can play.” As Klaus sets out to accomplish the feat of a book-length discussion
on the essayistic personae, the character, voice, and recollection of classic
and contemporary essayists inform the text with a delightfully broad look at
the many selves that have given life to the essay. But despite the in-depth
look at the work of others, Klaus’ voice weaves itself in and out of Montaigne
and Woolf, around bends of Lamb and White, and over the rivers of Dillard and
Didion, showing readers that no matter where the essay goes, the essayist is
ever at the helm.
Delightful read.
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