Perspectives on the Pandemic: Contemporary Personal Essays as a Space of Resistance

It may be argued that writing about contemporaneity risks being a mere description of what Braudel would term ‘episodic time’—the short-term perspective newspapers and chronicles. However, when political social events spread into literature, there is nuanced language presence (Barthes). By not bound to specific mode narration, the essay’s brevity incisiveness seems particularly suitable decipher contemporary. This paper presents comparative reading personal essays published between April July 2020 by Olive Senior, Deborah Levy, Zadie Smith, it argues are two main ways resisting: choice in itself, topics issues. The immediate response writers form book form, online magazines, or special sections websites publishing houses clear example how literature—and indeed literary mind—can space for thinking present putting things perspective. overcoming possible limitations represented thematization pandemic, open towards appear as different, but still very close, temporality: physical discourse-based violence on female bodies, black Earth. will then come conclusion an act resistance literature has power narrate real “interpret[ing] world […] one word at time” (Senior, “Cross Words”).