WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.486 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:00:03.486 --> 00:00:07.470 align:middle line:90% 00:00:07.470 --> 00:00:09.030 align:middle line:90% Good evening. 00:00:09.030 --> 00:00:12.427 align:middle line:84% [COUGHING] Sorry, I'm kind of getting over a cold. 00:00:12.427 --> 00:00:14.010 align:middle line:84% The genre of the introduction includes 00:00:14.010 --> 00:00:16.770 align:middle line:84% a few but simple necessary rules. 00:00:16.770 --> 00:00:19.110 align:middle line:84% I should mention how I was introduced to the author's 00:00:19.110 --> 00:00:21.600 align:middle line:84% work, how it has affected me, and perhaps 00:00:21.600 --> 00:00:24.990 align:middle line:84% how I've disseminated that life-altering information. 00:00:24.990 --> 00:00:27.540 align:middle line:84% Then I should quote a particularly insightful line 00:00:27.540 --> 00:00:30.720 align:middle line:84% from the author's work and offer a warm and shrewd criticism 00:00:30.720 --> 00:00:33.300 align:middle line:84% followed by a note-- followed by a few notable awards 00:00:33.300 --> 00:00:35.670 align:middle line:84% from the author's CV and a careful pause 00:00:35.670 --> 00:00:38.775 align:middle line:84% between my pleasure to introduce and the author's name. 00:00:38.775 --> 00:00:39.960 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:00:39.960 --> 00:00:42.900 align:middle line:84% But introducing tonight's guest presents small complications 00:00:42.900 --> 00:00:45.060 align:middle line:84% when approaching this generic form. 00:00:45.060 --> 00:00:48.120 align:middle line:84% The most obvious would be that the word count in his CV 00:00:48.120 --> 00:00:51.930 align:middle line:84% more resembles a short novel than a list of accolades. 00:00:51.930 --> 00:00:53.640 align:middle line:84% But even more impressive than tonight's 00:00:53.640 --> 00:00:56.940 align:middle line:84% reader's litany of publications and awards spanning 00:00:56.940 --> 00:00:59.610 align:middle line:84% every genre imaginable is the influence 00:00:59.610 --> 00:01:01.530 align:middle line:84% his works have had on the academy, 00:01:01.530 --> 00:01:04.500 align:middle line:84% on the essay as art form, and on the lives of writers 00:01:04.500 --> 00:01:05.970 align:middle line:90% everywhere. 00:01:05.970 --> 00:01:08.550 align:middle line:84% Aside from the words Phillip Lopate commits to page, 00:01:08.550 --> 00:01:10.950 align:middle line:84% it's necessary to praise the words of other writers 00:01:10.950 --> 00:01:13.260 align:middle line:90% he's organized into anthology. 00:01:13.260 --> 00:01:15.180 align:middle line:84% His work, The Art of the Personal Essay, 00:01:15.180 --> 00:01:17.320 align:middle line:84% historicizes the essay to its origins 00:01:17.320 --> 00:01:20.940 align:middle line:84% of philosophical meanderings of Seneca, 00:01:20.940 --> 00:01:24.180 align:middle line:84% who argues that the usefulness of distracting noise-- 00:01:24.180 --> 00:01:26.730 align:middle line:84% excuse me-- who argues for the usefulness of distracting 00:01:26.730 --> 00:01:29.640 align:middle line:84% noise, and Montaigne, the grandfather of the personal 00:01:29.640 --> 00:01:32.880 align:middle line:84% essay, while a section from Sei Shonagon's Pillow Book 00:01:32.880 --> 00:01:37.060 align:middle line:84% demonstrates her fierce autonomy and wry-- 00:01:37.060 --> 00:01:37.560 align:middle line:90% [COUGHING] 00:01:37.560 --> 00:01:40.350 align:middle line:84% --excuse me-- and wry disapproval of the 10th century 00:01:40.350 --> 00:01:41.952 align:middle line:90% Japan. 00:01:41.952 --> 00:01:43.410 align:middle line:84% These origins of the personal essay 00:01:43.410 --> 00:01:47.520 align:middle line:84% have paved the way for MFK Fisher's beautiful indulgences, 00:01:47.520 --> 00:01:51.210 align:middle line:84% James Baldwin's unapologetic anger and honesty, 00:01:51.210 --> 00:01:56.312 align:middle line:84% and later to the banality of Joan Didion's migraines, and-- 00:01:56.312 --> 00:01:58.180 align:middle line:90% [COUGHING] 00:01:58.180 --> 00:01:59.970 align:middle line:84% --and the revelry at the precipice 00:01:59.970 --> 00:02:01.770 align:middle line:90% of Wendell Berry's "Woods." 00:02:01.770 --> 00:02:03.480 align:middle line:84% This collection of essays foregrounded 00:02:03.480 --> 00:02:06.060 align:middle line:84% what has become perhaps the most expansive literary genre 00:02:06.060 --> 00:02:07.655 align:middle line:90% in the last 20 years. 00:02:07.655 --> 00:02:09.030 align:middle line:84% And while this anthology has been 00:02:09.030 --> 00:02:11.910 align:middle line:84% doing important, quiet work, Phillip Lopate 00:02:11.910 --> 00:02:14.460 align:middle line:84% has been there alongside it, reminding us that, quote, 00:02:14.460 --> 00:02:18.150 align:middle line:84% "The essay is an enactment of the creation of the self." 00:02:18.150 --> 00:02:21.240 align:middle line:84% In his most recent collection, The Portrait Inside My Head, 00:02:21.240 --> 00:02:24.060 align:middle line:84% Lopate demonstrates his genuine curiosity 00:02:24.060 --> 00:02:27.060 align:middle line:84% and his relentless approach to exploration through writing, 00:02:27.060 --> 00:02:29.880 align:middle line:84% whether the concern is the extension of his own empathy, 00:02:29.880 --> 00:02:32.760 align:middle line:84% why he loves baseball, or when Reznikoff finally 00:02:32.760 --> 00:02:34.980 align:middle line:90% wrote the poet's novel. 00:02:34.980 --> 00:02:37.020 align:middle line:84% In the essay, "Tea at the Plaza," 00:02:37.020 --> 00:02:39.900 align:middle line:84% he rediscovers that, quote, "Life 00:02:39.900 --> 00:02:44.730 align:middle line:84% is composed at bottom of loss, futility, and ineluctable 00:02:44.730 --> 00:02:45.480 align:middle line:90% sorrow. 00:02:45.480 --> 00:02:48.545 align:middle line:84% There is nothing you can do but laugh about it." 00:02:48.545 --> 00:02:51.045 align:middle line:84% And then there's a moment when he finds himself at a Protect 00:02:51.045 --> 00:02:54.083 align:middle line:90% the Panthers gathering with-- 00:02:54.083 --> 00:02:55.500 align:middle line:84% excuse me-- gathering in Berkeley, 00:02:55.500 --> 00:02:58.260 align:middle line:84% where Mao's China was a standard of purity and, quote, 00:02:58.260 --> 00:03:01.410 align:middle line:84% "A framed portrait of Stalin hung above the counter." 00:03:01.410 --> 00:03:03.660 align:middle line:84% And the author incredulously asked himself, 00:03:03.660 --> 00:03:05.640 align:middle line:90% what am I doing here? 00:03:05.640 --> 00:03:09.330 align:middle line:84% Lopate's work elucidates both the banal and the brilliant, 00:03:09.330 --> 00:03:12.060 align:middle line:84% uncovers the cool and the quotidian. 00:03:12.060 --> 00:03:14.220 align:middle line:84% In his craft book To Show and to Tell, 00:03:14.220 --> 00:03:16.150 align:middle line:84% he reminds essayists that, quote, 00:03:16.150 --> 00:03:18.420 align:middle line:84% "We may never be in possession of the truth. 00:03:18.420 --> 00:03:21.810 align:middle line:84% But we can try to be as honest as our courage permits." 00:03:21.810 --> 00:03:25.080 align:middle line:84% Phillip Lopate's courage is big, his intellect immense, 00:03:25.080 --> 00:03:28.343 align:middle line:84% and his humanity is thoughtful and tender. 00:03:28.343 --> 00:03:30.510 align:middle line:84% And while we owe him more than we can possibly know, 00:03:30.510 --> 00:03:33.330 align:middle line:84% tonight, we can at least give him our attention. 00:03:33.330 --> 00:03:35.010 align:middle line:84% And it's my pleasure to introduce you 00:03:35.010 --> 00:03:37.040 align:middle line:90% to Phillip Lopate.