Alfred Kazin's Summer: The Way to Highland Park. Personal opinion given

Essay by Anonymous UserCollege, UndergraduateA+, January 1997

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There are two main reasons why I have chosen Summer: The Way to Highland Park as my essay. My first reason is I love the city. In the city there is an essence of the past, marred by the shameful present. Kazin captures this feeling of the city to the point you can almost smell the city. His scents and sights bring this story to life. This brings me to the other reason I chose this story. I find Alfred Kazin's view of the world as refreshing. I find the world to be a beautiful place and I think Kazin does too. His mind escapes the ordinary day and floats to another place, a more romantic place. Kazin is not only a superb writer, but better, a superb romantic. I admire this loftiness and am mesmerized by how accurately he can relay his thoughts to the reader. Never have I read an author who writes with such life.

Alfred Kazin is a man who not only lives life, he digests it into his soul. There is a "larger than life" aura which the city of New York emanates and Kazin sees this aura. Included in this aura are the roots of American history. Kazin with his flawless descriptions of his environment and emotions made it seem like you were inside his a head and thinking his thoughts. According to Mr. Kazin, New York is the Mecca of American history and Kazin is humbled as well as awed by the vastness of New York City. More importantly, Kazin brings to life how books can fill a void in the mind and entice curiosity.

Alfred Kazin, a man with a romantic mind, sets out on an aloof walk from his dinner table to a park across town and on his...