TLDR;
This lecture explores the distinction between English and American essays, both originating from Michel de Montaigne but evolving distinct cultural identities and rhetorical strategies. The English essay tradition emphasizes rationality, discipline, and social purpose, while the American tradition is deeply personal, confessional, and experimental. Modern creative non-fiction combines elements of both, with a dominant American voice that values personal exploration and intimacy, enhanced by English precision and vulnerability.
- English essays: rational, disciplined, argumentative, formal style, public voice.
- American essays: personal, confessional, experimental, democratic tone, authentic voice.
- Modern creative non-fiction: hybrid form, blending English clarity with American subjectivity.
Introduction: English vs. American Essay [0:06]
The lecture introduces the distinction between English and American essays, both descended from Michel de Montaigne but developed differently. The American essay is characterized by self-revelation, while the English essay emphasizes restraint and decorum. The lecture aims to explore these traditions as parallel branches of the same literary tree, each reflecting its society.
Origins and Core Features of the English Essay [1:14]
Both English and American essayists claim Michel de Montaigne as their originator but interpret him differently. The English tradition, also known as the British essay, emphasizes rationality, discipline, and argumentation, exploring social and moral purposes with a formal style and controlled subjectivity. It values wit and refined criticism, with authors often adopting a public, educated voice rather than subjective confessions.
Key Figures in the English Essay Tradition [2:15]
Francis Bacon, considered the father of the English essay, writes epigrammatic philosophical reflections on human behavior and morality with an objective, impersonal, and instructive tone. Joseph Addison and Richard Steele, founders of The Spectator, transformed the essay into a social and literary tool, using conversational but formal essays to refine public taste and manners, focusing on moral instruction and social refinement rather than self-revelation. Charles Lamb introduced tenderness, nostalgia, and self-portraiture into essays, maintaining a controlled artistry rather than raw self-expression. George Orwell represents the modern English essay with intellectual, moral, and clear writing, combining autobiography, political purpose, and stylistic discipline. Virginia Woolf bridges the gap between the classical English essay and the rising American introspective mode, introducing feminist introspection and poetic language while maintaining an intellectual and universal perspective.
Core Features of the American Essay [5:36]
The American essay tradition is deeply personal, confessional, and self-aware, focusing on individual experience rather than social prescriptions. It is more experimental in structure and form, with a democratic and conversational tone, emphasizing voice and authenticity over formality.
Key Figures in the American Essay Tradition [6:10]
Ralph Waldo Emerson shifted the essay from instruction to self-discovery, using intuition, individuality, and spiritual freedom, establishing the American essay as romantic, independent, and anti-traditional. Henry David Thoreau wrote from personal experience in nature, with a spiritual, ecological, journal-like, and anti-industrial style, turning the essay into a lived experiment. James Baldwin injected autobiography, race, politics, and existentialism into the essay, using personal reflection as a bridge to social and historical critique. Joan Didion fused journalism, memory, and psychological self-analysis, with a fragmentary, cinematic, and interior prose, portraying the essay as a form of survival. Phillip Lopate, a major theorist of modern personal essays, defines the essay as the self trying to understand itself, celebrating self-doubt, inconsistency, and personal exposure, emphasizing that the essay must reveal flaws, not hide them.
Rational Comparison of American and British Essays [9:01]
The purpose of English essays is exploratory, rational, and moral, while American essays are experimental and self-revealing. The tone of English essays is polished and formal, while American essays are conversational, ironic, intimate, and sometimes confessional. English essays focus on society, culture, and morality, while American essays focus on self-identity and personal memory. English essays have a detached, observer voice, while American essays have a central, participant voice. English essays are rhetorical and structured, while American essays are fragmentary and degressive. The ideal reader for English essays is the public, while for American essays, it is democratic and impulsive. English essays have a controlled and intellectual relationship to Montaigne, while American essays have an honest and intimate one.
Reasons for the Differences Between Essay Traditions [9:51]
The differences between English and American essays stem from their respective cultural contexts. The English context includes an aristocratic heritage, classical education, and high values on public discourse, reason, and propriety, with essays serving as tools for civilization and cultural refinement. The American context emphasizes volunteer democracy, individuality, and self-invention, rejecting aristocratic formality, with essays serving as tools of self-definition and experiment.
Conclusion: Hybridity and Modern Creative Non-Fiction [10:43]
The essay has evolved into a hybrid form where English clarity meets American subjectivity, structured writing meets digression, and public thoughts meet private confessions. Modern creative non-fiction borrows from both traditions, with a dominant American voice that is personal, exploratory, fragmented, and intimate. The best non-fiction writers combine English precision and American vulnerability. The essay is not about answers but about the mind in motion, with the English essay teaching how to think clearly and the American essay teaching how to feel honestly.
