Portrait of My Body

Phillip Lopate's richest and most ambitious book yet -- the final volume of a trilogy that began with Bacbelorhood and Against Joie de Vivre -- Portrait of My Body is a powerful memoir in the form of interconnected personal essays. One of America's foremost essay writers, and the editor of the new Anchor Essay Annual 1997 (see page 12), Lopate demonstrates again his "consummate skill as an essayist" (Houston Chonicle).

With his characteristic wry humor and insight, Lopate explores the resources and limits of the self, its many disguises, excuses, and unmaskings. From the title essay -- a hilarious physical exam -- to the haunting portrait of his excolleague Donald Barthelme, to the bittersweet account of his long-delayed surrender to marriage, "On Leaving Bachelorhood", Lopate presents a collection rich with the events and accidents of a self-written life. A book that will engage readers with its eloquence, intelligence, and mischief, Portrait of My Body is a captivating work of literary nonfiction.