Arthur, Chris. "An Essay on the Esse." The Pedestrian vol 2, 2009. Web. 21 March 2012.
This is yet another example of a theoretical essay that exemplifies what an essay can look like while commenting on the actual form. Very meta. Arthur's essay explores the "essay" as a literary genre, comparing it to "esse," which means "essential nature, essence, to be, etc.," and "esse," a type of wood-burning stove that was in his home growing up. These may seem like disparate things, but he comments on the connection (and the use of seemingly obscure connections in essays) towards the end, saying:
"Touch the Esse with the hand of the essay and all sorts of windows open up. It is cocooned in a delicate tracery of stories. Pull on one thread and it awakens the lives of those in foundry and warehouse, in canal barges and in shop, all the hands that touched this cube of iron. Pull on another thread and the ore from which the Esse was forged takes us back to the geological age when it was laid down in the earth..."
(I could have gone on, because Arthur's prose is so dazzlingly beautiful, but I'll spare you the reading time.)
There is value in meta essays because a writer like me, trying to better understand the form and function of essays, can see how other essayists understand the essay--and they explain it in a way that follows the form they are writing about. Arthur's essay is extremely helpful because it accomplishes this meta-commentary. And it helps that his prose is, as I mentioned, dazzlingly beautiful. If you don't believe me, you should read this essay. The second paragraph is one of my favorites. Arthur is one of my favorite essayists, and this essay reinforces that favoritism.
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