Back in the day, a lot of our instructors in nonfiction were actually fiction scholars. So they would bring in stories as models for the essay. And in some ways that's a good idea, because we can all learn from other genres. But I think it also made me realize that I literally didn't have an essay model, and that if I wanted one I would have to find it.

The essay community should have hundreds of anthologies from hundreds of different perspectives that are constantly introducing us to new writers, new work, and new visions for our genre. The whole spirit of these anthologies is that there should never be a last word in how essays are interpreted or what they can be.

In some ways we want definitions that can help protect our own interpretations of the genre.

Sometimes what I'm looking for is the thing that will help renew people's interest in a writer that they may have written off as not their kind of writer.

Pedagogically, we need definitions and borders. They help us get our heads around what we're talking about.

I look for the kind of text that doesn't look like the writer I'm considering. Plutarch is a great example.

If there's a poster boy for the fact that all essays are written through personae, it's Crèvecoeur.