John D’Agata and the Art of the American Essay

How do we define the essay? Ask a hundred writers and you’ll get a hundred answers—which is, of course, the whole idea. “You have to push yourself,” John D’Agata notes in A New History of the Essay, “push your peers, push your readers, push your critics, push your culture, push your forbears, push your instincts … Continue reading John D’Agata and the Art of the American Essay