The essay is perhaps one of the most difficultly identified genres of journalism. In fact, this is a genre that has absorbed both journalism and fiction. It very subtly combines elements of journalism and fiction.
What is an essay, you can find out by opening a journalistic journal. It contains such a method of transmitting socially important factors and phenomena that accurately describes the life activity of certain social groups in society. Material is presented in the form of an author's study of certain aspects of society.
What are the main elements of the essay? There are three main ones - journalism, sociology and artistic description. The first two are closer to journalistic research.
The sociological description in the essay is the study of relations in society, the analysis of relations between the individual and society.
In journalism, the author expresses his opinion on various aspects of life, while relying on specific facts.
In the artistic description, the task is to create such an image, which consists of those phenomena and facts that reality presents. In this case, typing is used - collective and selective. In the collective character you can see all the properties and traits of character, as well as actions that are characteristic of different people with different characters. In selective typing in an invented character, signs of behavior and character of a certain type of people are collected . Thus, you can perceive the essay as a literary work.
What is an essay can be understood by reading the works of researchers of this genre of literature. Today, there are about 50 varieties of essay. There is no single genre classification. However, there are still types of essays:
- The documentary is based on real facts with real characters.
- The fiction describes a "life" situation with fictional characters.
- Portrait creates an image of a representative of a certain environment and analyzes reality.
- On mores in society - describes the life principles that are characteristic of certain sections of society.
The definition of what an essay is is largely based on the types of author's narrative. The narration can be conducted from a third party. The author explores the problem, being outside of it. Many well-known essays are written in this vein.
In the first person the author leads the story as a direct participant in the events. Moreover, the story is constantly in the present tense. That is, the author “does not know” how events will develop further. Another version of the story of an event that has already happened.
Another type of essay is a story in the form of a study. The author in the course of events develops his own assessment of the phenomena and facts.
There is a type of essay in which the narrative comes from the first person plural. The author describes events that concern all participants in the described action.
The most accurate answers to the question of what an essay is, contained in the essays themselves.