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A few thoughts about the Essay . . .

Graham Good, in his book The Observing Self: Rediscovering the Essay notes
that there are four primary kinds of essays. These are not, of course, the "essays" of which your old high
school or college English teacher spoke (such as expository, argumentative, thesis, etc.). No, no. What Good speaks
of are the original Montaignese-types of essay, namely the travel, the moral, the critical, and the autobiographical.
Into these four general categories, most modern familiar essays may be placed, although the likelihood of crossover and/or
variant essay types may be encountered.
In an effort to present my site in a similar spirit, I have chosen
to divide my own non-fictional essays into these categories, as well as a couple of my own, choosing the one seeming
most appropriate when a particular essay involves multiple genres. I hope that you, the reader, will enjoy these essays
and the other stories and works that I have written thus far featured here on my website. Please accept them in the
spirit in which they were created.
He said, "Why
should I tarry?"
And smiled with tranquil eye;
"In destinies sad or merry,
True men can but try."
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
(Lines 562-565)
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