I’ve recently returned from bikepacking the Sky Islands Odyssey with John Davis and Jason Kahn. A good time was had by all, but that’s an adventure for another day. Today I’d like to revisit briefly — mostly by way of invitation to ponder — the relationship between essaying and meandering.
Our 3-1/2 day ride around the West Loop represented a predetermined journey with agreed upon start and end points, yet it allowed for delays and detours. We followed a premeditated plan that nevertheless allowed for, indeed that encouraged, evagation.
Anne Fadiman, said an essay, like a poem, “has permission to be nonlinear.” Paraphrasing Emily Fox Gordon, she added, “you’re on back roads when you’re writing an essay, and you can take detours, and get on and off the subject.” — Paul Graseck (Source: “Meandering Toward a Definition of an Essay“, The Decadent Review)
It’s time to reread Graseck’s “Meandering Toward a Definition of an Essay“, I think. (But it’s vanished. I’ll try to dig it up!) I needn’t settle on his definition so much as examine why I’m so drawn to the “meandering”, nonlinear (with detours) potential of essays. And adventures!
Winding and circuitous journeys — through the wilds, through a many years long historic rehabilitation process, through the sort of meaning seeking meditation I’ve undertaken these last 966 days of old house journaling, and through the still ongoing creative experimentation with how best to share this story — are my default and my passion.
Sometimes, often even, essaying is most meaningful and rewarding when the trials and attempts leave room for uncertainty and risk, when an accidental discovery is made while veering off course or dropping a deadline. This is the way of discovery and wonder.
What do you think?