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I'm going to post one more time, just because I think there's a bit of a misconception here. You're absolutely correct about the origin of the word "Essay." It
by iWorshipFAANGS 6y ago
I'm going to post one more time, just because I think there's a bit of a misconception here.
You're absolutely correct about the origin of the word "Essay." It comes from the French word "essais," meaning "test" or "attempt." The form as we know it was invented by Montaigne, whose essays are indeed informal and personal. They're also uniformly excellent, and I'd recommend them to anyone. https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Essays_of_Montaigne https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Essays_of_Montaigne
However, if you click on virtually any of the essays in the link above, you'll find an essay that is packed with references and quotations. Quotations are a form of direct citation. Sometimes Montaigne misquotes, but this was well before the information age, and he was often working off of memory, so I think we can excuse his lapses.
However, if we are to use the origins of the essay as an example, I don't think we can say that the form necessarily resists citation.
- dang 6y agoI'm glad you brought up Montaigne; I was going to, but then realized that people would accuse me of comparing pg to the classics and get mad about that too. I think it's a bit of a stretch to compare informal quotes to "citations" in the modern sense. The point is that this is an informal, highly personal genre. There are people, as you probably know, who claim that Montaigne invented not only the essay, but the modern idea of a personal self by writing them. So to accuse pg of being too personal or self-referential in his essays is a misunderstanding. The way his writing gets under people's skin is certainly interesting though.
- iWorshipFAANGS 6y agoAlright, well said. Although I still don't agree that it'd be out of place to include citations in a personal essay, what you've said is fair too.