Ned Stuckey-French, “The American Essay in the American Century” (University of Missouri Press, 2011)

Clio, Erato, Polyhymnia–among the nine muses of Greek mythology, there’s no muse for the essay.  And that’s not only because the essay doesn’t appear, in name, until Montaigne publishes his first book of them in 1580.  No, one gets the feeling that, even if Homer had composed essays about the... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literary-studies