![]() ![]() But in reading Zadie Smith’s Feel Free I found not just an example of the essay at the peak of the form’s potential, but a deep understanding of the essay at its core.įeel Free is arranged in five parts: “In the World,” “In the Audience,” “In the Gallery,” “On the Bookshelf,” and “Feel Free,” and without even reading a word, the order of the segmentation illuminates Smith’s overarching thematic intention - to write her way to a feeling of freedom. Or, perhaps, can an essay be boiled down to the definition of the word itself: an attempt?įor years, I have looked to published essayists to find, if not answers, then at least exemplars (all the while begging for forgiveness from my Socratic idols for forsaking transparence of the thing in itself). Words that discover and embrace confusion? Is it:Ī piece of writing about a particular subject? The form is elusive at best and I’ve spent years trying to cobble together a resonant and useful definition. Billed Into Silence: Money and the Miseducation of Womenįor a woman who writes essays - claiming myself an “essayist” atop resumes and Facebook profiles - an understanding of the word escapes me (and with no small degree of frustration). ![]()
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