Publication at Faculty of Arts |
2012
Abstract
The article focuses on the concept of the essay as it is presented primarily in the Latin American literary criticism. Apart from the definition of the genre of essay as understood since the publication of Michel de Montaigne’s work, the article also mentions the so-called proto-essayistic texts.
Great emphasis is put on the author's style and reader’s role in the co-creation process of the meaning of the work. Apart from the fragmentary nature of the essay, this work also deals with the irony and comedy as critical elements in the essay.
In its final part, the article concludes that the essay can be viewed as a hybrid, unclassifiable genre, intellectually open and unfinished.