Essayistik als Selbsttechnik : Wahrheitspraxis im Zeitalter der Aufklärung The essay became popular in Europe during the 18th century. From early edifying weeklies and to the journals published around 1800 the essay served an emergent bourgeois audience as a means of critical reflection. For the first time this study applies textual analysis to show that essay writers during the Enlightenment conceived of the essay as a technology of the self. It traces the forms of subjectivity developed through essayistic writing