John D’Agata on the Essay
John D’Agata, author of The Lost Origins of the Essay, came to be a writer through what seems an unusual route: studying Latin. He began with a tutor as a child and continued with the subject all through school. “It felt like a private language, a private world that was mine,” he said. He majored in it in college until realizing what he really liked about Latin wasn’t quite the language, but the texts. “The huge majority of prose Latin text is essay,” he explained. Now he teaches the subject …
