What is an essay?

An essay is a venerable form of nonfiction writing that endures because of its power to influence readers. Essays are typically short (500– 5,000 words), tightly constructed, attack a single and comparatively narrow theme and drive the reader quickly and directly to a conclusion. Typically, essays have an obvious structure, reference larger outside forces and are topical and timely.

Essays can take a number of forms, including many found in the other professions described in this book, including art and literary essays, political tracts, one- off columns, extended blogs, opinion pieces and editorials.

Why write essays?

Because essays are so powerful. All the great minds of the last three thousand years have written in the essay form. Some essays (see below) have changed history. Part of their appeal is that they are the equivalent of a compressed argument transformed into print. Another reason is that they are comparatively brief: for writers, that means essays can be written quickly and can be sold to magazines and newspapers. For readers, a lot of the appeal is that the average essay typically can be read in a single sitting and doesn't require the commitment of, say, a nonfiction book. Finally, because they can be turned around so quickly, essays can be timely, and hooked to recent events, in a way impossible for longer formats.

For writers the biggest problem with the essay is that the form is inevitably bound up with bad memories of having to write “essays” in school. This is unfortunate, because the true essay has almost nothing to do with that debased form, which is little more than a form of punishment. The trick is to not let those bad memories deter you— there are few more enjoyable and rewarding forms of writing.

History

The essay— or at least a prototype form of the essay— can be traced to the Greeks, in particular to the post- Socratic philosophers. Plato's dialogs, such as The Republic are structured as conversations in which Socrates is prompted by interlocutors into extended monologues that are almost indistinguishable from short essays. This is particularly the case with his celebrated “Parable of the Cave.” Aristotle, in turn, achieves the essay format with his Nicomachean Ethics and Eudemian Ethics. Other essaylike writings from the era include Epictetus's Golden Sayings, a founding document in Stoicism.