Just what makes an essay literary? I’ve been challenged on that recently, not least because I’d like to extend the capaciousness of creative categories. These notes provide an early opportunity.
As Montaigne demonstrated four hundred years ago, essays—or what we today often call creative nonfiction—are typically founded on memoir, reflection, or some other form of particular personal experience. In this issue of the Kenyon Review, for example, we feature Jaquira Diaz’s “Ordinary Girls,” rich with the lyricism, the punch of fine fiction. Consider here the rhythms, repetitions, and the dramatically significant details:
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