Literary Essay Example

The literary essay it's a prose text in which the author expresses a certain vision with a personal style or opinion on a topic. The topics they are varied and free. There is no thematic restriction: they can be about cultural, historical, literary, philosophical, moral, etc.

They are subjective writings. This means that they do not present themselves as texts that seek to arrive at an objective truth. Rather, they express the thoughts, ideas, and opinions of the author. The essays can even contain your personal experiences or memories.

The style of each essay, as well as its structure and the themes it addresses depend on the interests of each author. However, in general, many trials use literary or poetic language. This is because a good part of the great literary essayists have been novelists, storytellers, poets, playwrights or philosophers at the same time.

As for his extension, it is usually brief, but it is a factor that also depends on each author. Many essay books are compilations of essays that authors have written or published throughout their life. trajectory or, well, they are a set of essays that deal with a central theme or a long essay divided into sections or chapters.

Examples of literary essays:

"Categories of reading" by Alfonso Reyes (fragment):

There are categories of reading according to whether the articulatory or visual order dominates in the psychological representation of language; according to the penetration that the culture has reached in the layers of the soul; according to the acquired habits of reading for himself or for others, of reading by himself or of listening to the reading; according to the greater or lesser readiness with which the ears or eyes communicate the message to the spirit; depending on whether the beautiful writing, the beautiful edition or the beautiful voice impress us more or less by themselves, distracting us more or less from the meaning of the words; depending on whether we are impatient or docile, before the momentary abdication of our personal reactions that means joining this alien thought, and so on.

The rough man, barely clearing the alphabet, tends to read aloud to himself, as if he wanted to agglutinate the signs more fully, holding the verbal attention both with the eyes and with the ears. What modern rhetoricians call verb-motor he reads aloud for the pleasure of speaking, and even when he listens to a speaker he is sometimes seen silently articulating what he hears. I know readers who are accompanied by a soft rhythmic whistle, to which they print a certain imitative modulation of reading aloud. When Heine declaimed the Quixote for the trees and the birds, he did it rather as a tribute, or by not losing any of the values ​​of lofty prose. When Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz complained that she had no other companions than the inkwell and the pen to share her studies, she undoubtedly missed minus that greater appeal to retention that results from accompanied reading and that all students prefer for the preparation of exams. Mestre Profiant Durán, an Aragonese Israelite from the 14th century, recommended to his disciples that they always read while reciting. On the other hand, Théophile Gautier, visual if there are any, judges that books are made to be seen and not spoken. On his part, Flaubert needed to bellow his own prose to see what he was writing.

The resistance by Ernesto Sábato (fragment). This book is an essay composed of 5 letters addressed to the reader. The themes are existentialist in nature. The author criticizes the loss of spiritual values ​​of society, individualism and dehumanization:

First letter. The small and the big

There are days when I wake up with insane hope, moments when I feel that the possibilities of a more human life are at our fingertips. This is one of those days.

And then, I began to write almost groping in the early morning, urgently, like someone who went out to the street to ask for help in the face of the threat of a fire, or like a ship that, at about to disappear, he made one last and fervent signal to a port that he knows is close but deafened by the noise of the city and by the number of signs that cloud the city. look.

I ask that we stop to think about the greatness to which we can still aspire if we dare to value life in another way. I ask for that courage that places us in the true dimension of man. We all, over and over again, we bend. But there is something that does not fail and it is the conviction that —only— the values ​​of the spirit can save us from this earthquake that threatens the human condition.

As I write to you, I have stopped to feel a rustic carving that the Tobas gave me and that brought me, like lightning, to me. memory, a “virtual” exhibition that they showed me yesterday on a computer, which I must admit seemed to me Mandinga. Because as we relate in an abstract way we move away from the heart of things and a metaphysical indifference takes hold of us as entities without blood or names take power own. Tragically, man is losing dialogue with others and the recognition of the world that surrounds, being that it is there where the encounter, the possibility of love, the supreme gestures of the lifetime. The words on the table, even the arguments or anger, seem to be replaced by the hypnotic vision.

20 Examples of Literary Essay Authors and Their Works 

1. Miguel de Unamuno (1864-1936). He was a Spanish writer belonging to the generation of 98. Among his essay books are: Around casticism (1895), Life of Don Quixote and Sancho (1905) and The agony of Christianity (1925).

1. Ernesto Sábato (1911-2011). He was an Argentine writer, thinker, physicist, and painter. His concern for the problems of existence and the human condition is reflected in his essays and narrative work. Among his essays are: Men and gears (1951), One and the universe (1945), The writer and his ghosts (1963), Before the end Of him (1998) and The resistance (2000).

1. Alfonso Reyes(1889-1959). He is a thinker, essayist, poet and storyteller considered one of the most important intellectuals and writers in Mexico. Some of his essays and essay books are: Aesthetic issues,Vision of Anahuac, The boundary, "The cranes, time and politics", "Memoirs of cuisine and winery", "Guynemer", "The literary experience", "The jitanjáforas", "Apollo or literature", "Reading categories".

1. José Ortega y Gasset (1883-1995). He was one of the most important Spanish philosophers. In his essays, the following stand out: Meditations on Don Quixote (1914), Invertebrate Spain (1921) e Ideas about the novel (1925).

1. Antonio Machado (1875-1939). He was a Spanish poet, playwright and sculptor belonging to the generation of 98. Juan de Mairena brings together the essays that Machado published since 1934 in the press.

1. Ramón Gómez de la Serna (1888-1963). Spanish author and journalist known for creating the greguerías. Some of his essay books are: Isms (1931), The utopia (1909) and The trail (1915).

1. José Vasconcelos (1882-1959). Mexican writer, philosopher and politician. Among his essays are: The cosmic race (1925) and Esthetic (1935).

1. Pedro Enríquez Ureña (1884-1946). He was a Dominican writer and philologist. Some of his essay books are: Six essays in search of our expression (1928), Spanish in Santo Domingo (1940), Plenitud de España: studies in the history of culture (1940) e History of culture in Latin America (1949).

1. Antonio Muñoz Molina (1956-). He is a Spanish novelist, short story writer, essayist and academic. He is a member of the Royal Academy of the Language since 1995. Among his essay books are: Cordoba of the Umayyads (1991), Truth from fiction (1992), Pure joy (1998), The audacity to look (2012), All that was solid (2013).

1. Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986). He was an Argentine intellectual, essayist, translator, short story writer, and poet. Among his essays are: Inquisitions (1925), History of eternity (1936), Other inquisitions (1952) Seven nights (1980) and Nine Dantesque essays (1982).

1. Octavio Paz (1914-1988). He was a Mexican writer and diplomat who in 1990 received the Nobel Prize for Literature. His most recognized essay works are The Labyrinth of Solitude (1950) and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz or the traps of faith (1982).

1. Eduardo Mallea (1903-1982). He was an Argentine short story writer, novelist and essayist who received in 1946 the Grand Prize of Honor from the Argentine Society of Writers. Among his essays stand out: Knowledge and expression of Argentina (1935), The sackcloth and the purple (1941) and The inner war (1963).

1. José Carlos Mariategui (1894-1930). He was a Peruvian writer and sociologist who stands out for his book of essays 7 interpretation essays of the Peruvian reality (1928).

1. Richard Wagner (1813-1883). This 19th century German composer was also an essayist, poet and playwright. Some of his essay books are: Art and revolution (1849), Opera and drama (1851) and Judaism in music (1850).

1. Alejo Carpentier(1904-1980). He was a Cuban narrator, short story writer, essayist, and musicologist. The theme of music is present in his essays. Among his essay books are: Music in Cuba (1946), Latin America in its music (1975), Literature and consciousness in Latin America (1969), The adjective and its wrinkles (1980), THE musician within me (1980).

1. José Cadalso (1941-1982). He was a Spanish military man, poet, novelist, playwright, and essayist. It is known for Moroccan letters (1789), a work that is both an epistolary novel and a book of essays.

1. José Lezama Lima (1910-1976). He is a Cuban writer recognized for his novel Paradise (1966). Some of his essay books are: Watch holder (1953), American expression (1957) and The imaginary ages (1971).

1. José Martí (1853-1895). He was a Cuban writer, journalist, and philosopher. The political prison in Cuba (1871) and Our America (1891) are some of his essay books.

1. George Orwell (1903-1950). He is a British writer and journalist. Known for novels Rebelion on the farm and Among his essays are: "A nice cupe of tea" (1946), "Books vs. cigarettes ”,“ Why I write ”and“ Shooting an elephant ”.

1. Cristina Rivera Garza (1964-). She is one of the most recognized current Mexican writers. Some of his essay books are: The unruly dead. Necro-deeds and expropriation (2013) and Texts from a wounded country (2011).