…The essayist wears proudly the confusion of an independent soul trying to grope in isolation toward the truth.
“…The essayist often begins with a confession of pathology, prejudice or limitation, and then in the best cases rises to a level of general wisdom that might be generously called philosophy.
“Whatever twists and turns occur along its path, and however deep or moral its conclusions, an essay will have little enduring interest unless it also exhibits a certain sparkle or stylistic flourish. It is not enough for the essayist to slay the bull; it must be done with more finesse than butchery. Freshness, honesty, self-exposure and authority must all be asserted in turn. An essayist who produces magisterial and smoothly ordered arguments but is unable to surprise himself in the process of writing will end up boring us. An essayist who is vulnerable and sincere but unable to project any authority will seem, alas, merely pathetic and forfeit our attention. So it is a difficult game to pull off. Readers must feel included in a true conversation, allowed to follow thorough mental processes of contradiction and digression, yet be aware of a formal shapeliness developing simultaneously underneath.
“An essay is a continual asking of questions—not necessarily finding ‘solutions,’ but enacting the struggle for truth in full view.”
Lopate, Phillip. “In Search of the Centaur: The Essay-Film.” Totally Tenderly Tragically: Essays and Criticism from a Lifelong Love Affair with the Movies. New York: anchor/Doubleday, 1998: 282.