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Read Hundreds of the Greatest Essays Ever Written by Famous Authors for Free

Read Hundreds of the Greatest Essays Ever Written by Famous Authors for Free

Treat essays as an alternative platform for authors to express their thoughts, arguments, additional information, literary criticism, political manifestos, observations of daily life and basically anything about the author himself. Not getting too deep into the rabbit-hole behind the definition and history of essays, this post marks the subtle beginning of research and compilation of free works by famous authors which are readily available online for everyone to read. Without a doubt, complete novels and literatures are not sufficient on their own if you really want to know all the works behind an author. Essays, short-stories, maybe even poetries and illustrations could come into the picture.

Few common names do come around when we talk about essays, and some of them include Joan Didion, Susan Sontag, John Cheever, John Jeremiah Sullivan and many more. Some of these talented authors have left us but some are still here with us, giving us access to their work to establish a better understanding of their lives when they were busy writing and expressing their creative thoughts.

Albert Camus

Popular essays include “The Myth Of Sisyphus”, etc.

Other authors covered in this compilation include Albert Camus, Arthur Schopenhauer, Brian Phillips, Carlyle, Charles Siebertoct, Clifford Geertz , David Foster Wallace, Dr. Jonathan Swift , Friedrich Nietzsche, George Orwell, George Woodcock , Gilbert Keith Chesterton, Henry David Thoreau, Horace Mitchell Miner , Hunter S. Thompson and many more.

“I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking, what I’m looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear.” – Joan Didion

The list below is by no means a comprehensive and complete, as there are literally hundreds more free essays out there, just waiting to be consumed. Perhaps we can approach that in a more systematic manner in our future posts, categorized through authors and type of essays, so please stay tuned! Besides that, do expect lots of online articles from the long compilation below, some of which may provide a downloadable PDF and some would just list a full compilation of that author. Regardless, we hope you’ll enjoy this group of essays and happy reading!

  1. The Myth Of Sisyphus by Albert Camus
  2. The Essays Of Arthur Schopenhauer: Religion: A Dialogue, Etc. by Arthur Schopenhauer
  3. Pelé As A Comedian by Brian Phillips
  4. A Mechanical Age by Carlyle
  5. An Elephant Crackup? by Charles Siebertoct
  6. Notes On The Balinese Cockfight by Clifford Geertz
  7. E Unibus Pluram by David Foster Wallace
  8. This Is Water by David Foster Wallace
  9. Shipping Out: On The (nearly Lethal) Comforts Of A Luxury Cruise by David Foster Wallace
  10. A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again by David Foster Wallace
  11. Consider The Lobster by David Foster Wallace
  12. Big Red Son by David Foster Wallace
  13. Ticket To The Fair by David Foster Wallace
  14. Roger Federer As Religious Experience by David Foster Wallace
  15. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
  16. A Modest Proposal by Dr. Jonathan Swift
  17. Beyond Good And Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche
  18. 50 Essays by George Orwell
  19. The Tyranny Of The Clock by George Woodcock
  20. What’s Wrong With The World by Gilbert Keith Chesterton
  21. Dozens Of Essays & Ebooks by Henry David Thoreau
  22. Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau
  23. Walking by Henry David Thoreau
  24. Body Ritual Among The Nacirema by Horace Mitchell Miner
  25. The Song Of The Sausage Creature by Hunter S. Thompson
  26. The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent And Depraved by Hunter Thompson
  27. Essays & Works by Immanuel Kant
  28. The Relativity Of Wrong by Isaac Asimov
  29. The Relativity Of Wrong by Isaac Asimov
  30. Quickness by Italo Calvino
  31. Don’t Mourn For Us by Jim Sinclair
  32. Goodbye To All That by Joan Didion
  33. On Keeping A Notebook by Joan Didion
  34. Slouching Toward Bethlehem by Joan Didion
  35. On Self Respect by Joan Didion
  36. Revolutionary Writings by John Adams
  37. Why I Write Short Stories by John Cheever
  38. Mr. Lytle by John Jeremiah Sullivan
  39. 15 Essays by John Jeremiah Sullivan
  40. Mr. Lytle, An Essay by John Jeremiah Sullivan
  41. You Blow My Mind. Hey, Mickey! by John Jeremiah Sullivan
  42. Where Is Cuba Going? by John Jeremiah Sullivan
  43. My Debt To Ireland by John Jeremiah Sullivan
  44. Feet In Smoke: A Story About Electrified Near-Death by John Jeremiah Sullivan
  45. Mr. Difficult by Jonathan Franzen
  46. The Ecstasy Of Influence: A Plagiarism by Jonathan Lethem
  47. A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift
  48. Our America by José Martí
  49. Eat, Pray, Spend by Joshunda Sanders
  50. King’s Letter From A Birmingham Jail by King, Martin Luther Jr.
  51. How I Edited An Agricultural Paper by Mark Twain
  52. All Books Have Genders by Meil Gaiman
  53. 107 Essays by Michel De Montaigne
  54. The Soul Of Man Under Socialism (1891) by Oscar Wilde
  55. The Age Of The Essay by Paul Graham
  56. Writing American Fiction by Philip Roth
  57. Essays: First Series (1841) – 12 Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson
  58. Essays: Second Series (1844) – 9 Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson
  59. The Gift Of Fire by Richard Mitchell
  60. I Do Not Fear Death by Roger Ebert
  61. Consolation In The Face Of Death by Samuel Johnson
  62. On Procrastination by Samuel Johnson
  63. 100 Essays I Don’t Have Time To Write by Sarah Ruhl
  64. The Lottery by Shirley Jackson
  65. The Garden Of Cyrus by Sir Thomas Browne
  66. War Is A Racket by Smedley D. Butler
  67. Letter To My Grandchildren by Stewart Udall
  68. The Aesthetics Of Silence by Susan Sontag
  69. Notes On “Camp” by Susan Sontag
  70. The Essay As Form by T.W. Adorno
  71. Minima Moralia by T.W. Adorno
  72. Twirling At ‘OLE Miss by Terry Southern
  73. The Culture Industry: Enlightenment As Mass Deception (1944) by Theodor Adorno And Max Horkheimer
  74. What Is It Like To Be A Bat? by Thomas Nagel
  75. Rights Of Man by Thomas Paine
  76. Ur-Fascism by Umberto Eco
  77. A Room Of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf
  78. The Work Of Art In The Age Of Mechanical Reproduction by Walter Benjamin
  79. Examsmanship And The Liberal Arts by William G. Perry

David Foster Wallace

Popular essays include “Consider the Lobster”, “This Is Water”, “Big Red Son”, etc.

If you think we’ve missed out any, don’t forget to leave your comment below and do recommend to us on what topic of free ebooks or any reading resources you wish to see next.