Essay: from history to the genre characteristics in the literary sphere

Abstract

The essay genre is a discursive modality with a malleable shape which can circulate in different spheres of human communication. In the literary field, the essay blends concepts and opinions, figures and metaphor, critique and analyses. It is characterized as a discursive reflection, nurtured by a process of artistic subjectivation whose product results in a profound contemplation of a theme and/or the analysis of a piece of work, period, or style. Despite being recognized as an argumentative genre, there are few large and detailed studies about the essay’s characteristics. In that sense, this work aims at presenting a categorization for the genre based on the Bakhtinian perspective of discourse genres, since it observes linguistic-enunciative marks, production conditions, thematic content and compositional construction. The compilation of corpus for analysis is derived, methodologically, from the following steps: i) investigation of textsstatements/works entitled as essays and/or that approached the term essay; ii) diagnosis and appreciation of that material; iii) selection and studies of representative texts of the genre; iv) organization of the essay characteristics in the literary sphere. In this perspective, the genealogy of the essay is discussed together with a presentation of an organization of the regularities and instabilities of the genre based on the texts-statements analyzed.

Keywords

• Discourse Genres
• Literary Essay
• Categorization