Short classical essays

Besides poetry, another great way to enjoy short classics is to read classic plays. Even at the same number of pages, plays have much more spacing inside the text, making them quick reads. The second shortest item on my list of short classics is Molière’s famous play, The Misanthrope.

But as Dan Kois has pointed out, what connects these essays, apart from their general tone and excellence, is “their author’s essential curiosity about the world, his eye for the perfect detail, and his great good humor in revealing both his subjects’ and his own foibles.”

William Blake’s small collection of poetry is the shortest classic on my list. Showing the contrary states of the human soul, Blake aims to portray the innocence of childhood against the realities of a fallen world.

The American essay was having a moment at the beginning of the decade, and Pulphead was smack in the middle.