Essays - genre features

Essai in French means "trial" and the name of the species comes from this word. This is a genre bordering on science fiction and science, a statement that represents the author's point of view on this problem. Most often expresses his point of view on philosophical and artistic themes, sometimes takes the form of a manifesto or literary criticism. The professional payforessay.pro service can help you with your essay writing.

Although the subjectivity of the statement is undoubtedly a characteristic feature of the essay, it is difficult to unequivocally determine its genre determinants - when analyzing individual texts, it is impossible to indicate the features that are present in all of them at once. So, there is an essay, this is a very broad and internally diverse concept. Its hybridity is striking, built on a column, a reportage, a review, a treatise and a diary. An essay can also contain smaller forms, such as: anecdote, story, digression. Even the work cannot be attributed to one of the literary genres, although it is closest to the epic.

As a genre bordering on scientific prose and journalism, the essay is a non-fiction form, devoid of a plot and reflective. Of course, elements of the presented world appear in some parts of the work - for example, in anecdotes presented in the sequence of the narrative, examples, memories - but their role is subordinated to the main idea. They are just a kind of argument, proof of the thesis put forward.

The structure of the essay is close to the stream of consciousness, devoid of a predominant linear, chronological or thematic order. There is no topic hierarchy here. The author expresses his thoughts freely, according to his own associations, often using a mental label. Nor does he try to exhaust this topic. The essay does not pursue the goal of a contract, does not set as its goal an integrated approach to the problem, it is limited to the presentation of the author's subjective point of view.

The emergence of essays
This genre comes from the Renaissance, its creators - Michael de Montaigne and Francis Bacon. They gave it a name and a modern shape. However, "samples", more often called "sketches", were made in antiquity. These were recordings of dissolute thoughts, most often on philosophical topics. Essay elements also appeared in popular dialogues at the time, such as cynical diatribes or menippean satire, as well as letters, sentences, and examples. Plutarch ("Moralia"), Seneca belong to the representatives of the ancient essay.

Additional Resources:

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