Essaying Culture

This course is interested in the essay as form. As a verb, essay means "to make an often tentative or experimental effort to perform." We will explore through reading and our own writing the poetic, gnomic, and often desultory moves the essay makes as it seeks to understand its cultural objects. Like the novel, the essay is an omnivorous form. It consists of fragments, poetry, personal reflection, lists, rational argument, and much more as it winds its way to understanding. We will be reading a range of essays, as well as theories of the form.