The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1921-04-07
ASSIGNS PLACE TO ..,.. !.
THE MODERN ESSAY

# At the meeting of the Faculty .Clup
on March % its members gave tatten-
tion to a consideration, of the topic:
1.Modern Essay and ,Essayists." Faith:
ar John Baker, teacher Of French, read
4 paper on 'sThe Modern Essay" which
was the first number of the program.
Father Baker presided during the
meeting. :,
"a The term Essay is used to describe
q brief prose composition OF an exposl-
tory character, dealing with ITS SUD-
iect from a more or less limited or
personal standpoint, and permitting
considerable freedom Of style and
method. The word implieP the tenta,
Eve and suggestive, as distinguished
from the formal and complete discus
sion. DR.. Samuel Johnson, from this
standpoint, defines the Essay as a
loose sally Of the mind, an irregular:
ifdigested piece. On the other hand
the term is equally applicable to Tor
NAL expositary compositions, and mas
even been extended to cover works OF
a wider character, treating their SUBJ
iects under series of captions, such
as Locke's Essay concerning the. HUI
man Understanding. In the 18th cen
tury it is also extended to compost
lions in verse, such as Pope's Essay
on Man. In general an essay IS dis
tinguished from treatise or disserta-
ton in being less formal, from the
sis, in not being restricted to formal ma
argument.
Assuming the fact that the literary
history of the past century is divided
INTO the Knickerbocker Period, the
New England Period and the National
Period, we may say that here modern
and national are synonymous, and that
the modern Essay begins shortly aft
er the close Of the Civil War with
those new forces and new ideals and
broadened views that grew out OF the
mighty struggle. Sss =,
"a The ESSAY was not, like the epic.
the novel. the drama, the climax Of a
long process Of growth and develop
ment, but the invention OF AN lndivld-
ual: It sprang complete from the pen
Of Montague in the 18th century. IN
the year 1880 he published work OF
essays at Bordeaux, and from TINS
work the 8modern conception OF the
essay as a distinct literary form, and
the use of the word essay to describe
It. have their origin. In this work he
discoursed on whatever subject came
70 hand from the standpoint Of his in
,diyidual experience and mood. 50 that
he could say in his address to the
reader: I have no respect or consid-
Grafton at all-either to- thy service
81 To nv glory. Myself am the
groundwork Of my book. To this sort
of mood and the essays that represent
it. the whole later development OF the
essay is generally traced. Moptalgne's
essays were widely read in England
and the new form became more I'M
portant across the channel than in its
native land. It's best representative
in the familiar style in more recent
times was Robert Louis Stephenson
in Familiar Studies and other works
whereas in the critical essay the palm
must be yielded to the French, such
as Sainte Beuve, Brunetiere, Anatole
France. OF the modern American Es-
say, in distinction to earlier periods.
one may say that the great mass OF it's
writings could have been produced
nowhere but in the United States
They are redolent Of the new spirit Of
America. they are American litera-
ture. More than, any literary form
The Essay has been the medium
through which we may trace the
transition from the old period to the