Essayistic Journals
Klaus’s essayistic journals include the following works, which take account not only of his life and marriage, his gardening and cooking, his retirement and aging, but also his abiding concern with time, change and mortality:
The Ninth Decade: an 8-year chronicle in 6-month essays, about Klaus’s life from the early-to late-80s, featuring his longtime companion Jackie, bearing witness to the challenges and pleasures of a longer-than-average lifespan. [More]
Letters to Kate: a year’s collection of Klaus’s letters to his wife after her sudden death from a cerebral hemorrhage, telling of his anguish, his memories of her, their life together, and a life after life. [More]
Taking Retirement: a 7-month diary telling how Klaus deals with the challenges of creating a new life after a long professional career, featuring lively give-and-take with his witty wife Kate. [More]
Weathering Winter: a daily journal from the first cold snap of late-December to the first outdoor planting in mid-March, telling how Klaus deals with the harsh climate and chilly truths of winter. [More]
My Vegetable Love: a daily 9-month journal from seedtime to harvest, each entry a vividly detailed 500-word essay telling about an incident in Klaus’s garden and in his ongoing life. [More]
Essayistic Role-Playing
Klaus’s discussion of impersonation and role-playing in essays and other kinds of nonfiction can be found not only in his books about it but also in two interviews and a review on the Supplements page.
The Made-Up Self: a collection of 10 essays in which Klaus shows how the “person” is a personal essay is a character, a persona, arising from carefully chosen words, memories, and thoughts. [More]
A Self Made of Words: a brief craft book, in which Klaus discusses and illustrates how 14 elements of writing can be used to create distinctive personas in nonfiction writing. [More]