The Vocabulary of Essay and Essayism
Several terms recur throughout Essayism in ways that may not always correspond exactly to their common or academic use. Their meanings emerge principally through use, relation and context rather than formal definition. The notes below are offered not as authoritative definitions, but as brief explanations of terms that carry particular significance within this work.
- Essay – not merely a literary form, but an act of attempting, exploring, testing.
- To essay – the practice itself.
- Essaying – the ongoing activity or disposition.
- Essayer – Many people are occasional essayers. Few become essayists.
- Essayist – one who essays habitually.
- Essayism – the account of that disposition emerging here.
- The art of essay – the disciplined practice of essaying.
- The essay – the artefact which may result from essaying.
- Disposition – not merely temperament, but a recurrent mode of attention and engagement.
- Attention
- Necessity
- Connection
- Movement
- Cognitive Choreography
- Practice
- Exploration
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