CL Pauwels at Large

Essayist Steve Harvey has launched a fascinating new project this week, a site titled The Humble Essayist wherein he will feature the “Paragraph of the Week,” highlighting a paragraph from a renowned or promising writer followed by a paragraph of comment about the theme and style of the piece.

“I think of it as a concise review which gives the reader the flavor of the original, commentary on the voice, and a brief glimpse of the writer’s ideas and obsessions, all in two paragraphs, ” Harvey writes.  “I hope it will get the word out about great essays to a few more readers.”

Here is a bit of what he has to say about the opening to Henry David Thoreau’s essay “Walking,” followed by a link to his site and the full entry:

The energetic contraries of Thoreau’s opening sentence—“hug” and “mount”—certainly deserve their exclamation point.  It punctuates an irony…