We explain what an essay in literature or in the arts is, its types, parts and other characteristics. Also, examples of great authors.
What is an essay?
The essay is a type of text in prose, generally of the expository type-argumentative, in which an author reflects, talks, evaluates or analyzes a topic of their choice. His point of view more or less subjective, depending on the type of essay it is.
The essay is a literary genre, that is, one of the forms that the artistic works of the language, in which an author subjectively addresses a topic, making use of the information you want to support your point of view. This is known as a free essay or literary essay, or as the Venezuelan poet and essayist Armando Rojas Guardia puts it: "The subjective party of the concept."
However, it is also usual in the academic field to write essays, which instead are subjected to standards of objectivity, methodological rigor and more or less established formats; This applies to the scientific, humanistic and social-scientific fields.
The term essay is also frequent in other artistic fields, such as the film, in which we speak of a "film essay" to refer to a film that, instead of telling a story, displays some kind of idea or concepts. "Photographic essay", similarly, is used in the field of Photography to refer to a set of interlaced images that address the same topic.
The essay as a genre was born in the Renaissance, around the 16th century, a time when the dissemination of ideas and pedagogy were considered central in the work of intellectuals, something that was preserved in the Illustration.
Important essayists were Francis Bacon (1561-1626), Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592), Pío Baroja (1872-1956), José Enrique Rodó (1871-1917) and José Carlos Mariátegui (1894-1930), to name just a few authors.
Trial characteristics
The main characteristics of the trial are:
- It is a prose writing, rigorous in tone and form, which addresses a significant topic chosen by the author.
- Its purpose is to explore an issue, whether or not you take a position on it.
- It is often written for pedagogical or propaedeutic purposes, or also to add knowledge a specific area of the academy.
- It is considered a literary genre belonging to the didactic, related to the miscellany, the epistle or the dissertation.
- Its length can be variable, from a few pages to an entire book.
Test types
The essay is generally classified according to the area of knowledge to which it belongs, and the methodology used in his writing. Thus, we can talk about:
- Literary essay. Characterized by the absolute Liberty In approaching the chosen topic, it has no other purpose than the author's own course, and therefore it can be as subjective as it wants, although an essay that offers an interesting, critical, cultured or sensitive point of view is always expected.
- Scientific essay. Those that are elaborated with the purpose of exposing results of the scientific experimentation, detail theories obtained or generate any form of scientific knowledge in writing, other than reports, reports and other texts more focused on telling what happened. Scientific essays often offer interpretations, readings, and information objective, since they are consumed among a specialized community.
- Academic essay. Similar to the scientific one, but in the case of intellectual, school or university communities, which put their investigative skills to the test by writing formal, expository, rigorously methodological essays, such as the thesis degree.
Parts of an essay
There is no single or universal way to structure an essay, especially a literary essay, the content of which is entirely decided by the author. But roughly, and like many other similar texts, it is possible to divide an essay into three main moments:
- Introduction. Where the foundations and minimum concepts are laid that will open the door to the body of the essay, or that will be necessary for the reader to continue. There are many different ways to present an essay introduction, but they always comply with "opening the door" to the subject for their readers.
- Knot or development. Which is the heart of the essay itself, where the most complex ideas meet or where the most challenging perspectives take place. If it is an academic essay, the knot includes the results, the conceptual debate, the theories, etc.
- Close or conclusion. That provides the reader with the final interpretations of what has already been read, resuming, summarizing or reviewing the vital points and thus ensuring that the discursive path of the essay reaches the point of arrival.
We must take into account that the essays are textual units, and they are rarely separated into their parts, much less schematized, but consist of a flow of written discourse.
Test examples
Here are some sample essays:
- "Essays" by Michel de Montaigne.
- "Essay on friendship" by Alberto Nin Frías.
- "Procrastinate" by Gabriel Zaid.
- "Of the tragic feeling of life" by Miguel de Unamuno.