
The Finest Narrative Non-Fiction Essays

The Best Essay
paulgraham.com

Some points to defend the POV that “essay quality is objective.”
Specific scope: You have to set the scope small enough to “essays.” Books, memoirs, newsletter and other written mediums have their own criteria. Songs and films are even more different. I think it’s important not to get bogged down in genre, and instead to see genre as a culturally a
short. All are smart and well written, but what renders them most valuable for me is a special kind of integrity in their handling of fact.
David Foster Wallace • Both Flesh and Not: Essays
Writer David Foster Wallace said that he thought good nonfiction was a chance to “watch somebody reasonably bright but also reasonably average pay far closer attention and think at far more length about all sorts of different stuff than most of us have a chance to in our daily lives.”
Austin Kleon • Show Your Work!: 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered

