A lot of these confessional essays also feel unhealthy or unsafe to support. Like, are you okay? Then they become breeding grounds for people looking to justify similarly unchecked emotions. I saw one on here recently where a writer was saying she hates other female writers if they’re better than her, have more life experience, go on more dates than she does, etc, and it was being lauded as this cathartic emotional epic with thousands of likes when it was literally incel ideology
I think I recall reading this exact essay and felt like it was describing me. I get one won’t connect with everything but it felt bizarre to see the response be so favorable. Everyday I’m still surprised by how much time people waste in thinking about other people lol.
i am not against confessional essays writ large and am still kind of digesting this article BUT I know exactly the one you're talking about and the reaction to it absolutely baffled me
Yeah, my jaw was on the floor. It’s one thing to feel like you’re competing and losing and be in your feelings about it, it’s a whole other thing to reduce your imaginary one-sided competition to a good guy/bad guy dynamic
I've started getting tired of these essays after just recently getting into reading the stuff on here. I joined Substack to hone my craft as a writer and post thought out pieces of work, not sure why people use it as a journal. Great work!
Great analysis. I’ve never personally read these types of essays. Reminds me of TikTok or Snapchat. Gives the feeling of hoping the world might validate you.
I got this in my algo right after reading a personal essay and thinking, “I should try something like this.” I believe this was divine guidance that I should Not haha
"How pooping myself taught me the importance of intersectionality" sounds a lot like " What something my kid said taught me about b2b sales/shareholder value/digital marketing".
great piece! I loved the hysterical nature of the personal essays on sites like the CUT and the virality of posts we used to find on Lena Dunham's Lenny Letter, or Refinery29 but I've grown tired of this sort read. maybe these were popular before because the authors were 'famous' in their corner of the internet and therefore had an audience that would cause their personal articles to go viral whereas now we are inundated with personal essays from people we do not know?
A lot of these confessional essays also feel unhealthy or unsafe to support. Like, are you okay? Then they become breeding grounds for people looking to justify similarly unchecked emotions. I saw one on here recently where a writer was saying she hates other female writers if they’re better than her, have more life experience, go on more dates than she does, etc, and it was being lauded as this cathartic emotional epic with thousands of likes when it was literally incel ideology
I think I recall reading this exact essay and felt like it was describing me. I get one won’t connect with everything but it felt bizarre to see the response be so favorable. Everyday I’m still surprised by how much time people waste in thinking about other people lol.
i am not against confessional essays writ large and am still kind of digesting this article BUT I know exactly the one you're talking about and the reaction to it absolutely baffled me
Yeah, my jaw was on the floor. It’s one thing to feel like you’re competing and losing and be in your feelings about it, it’s a whole other thing to reduce your imaginary one-sided competition to a good guy/bad guy dynamic
I hope this isn't a subtweet...
I've started getting tired of these essays after just recently getting into reading the stuff on here. I joined Substack to hone my craft as a writer and post thought out pieces of work, not sure why people use it as a journal. Great work!
Quality
Great analysis. I’ve never personally read these types of essays. Reminds me of TikTok or Snapchat. Gives the feeling of hoping the world might validate you.
fire essay, quality analysis.
Good shit!
I got this in my algo right after reading a personal essay and thinking, “I should try something like this.” I believe this was divine guidance that I should Not haha
"How pooping myself taught me the importance of intersectionality" sounds a lot like " What something my kid said taught me about b2b sales/shareholder value/digital marketing".
Confession vs. critique: where does culture go next?
great piece! I loved the hysterical nature of the personal essays on sites like the CUT and the virality of posts we used to find on Lena Dunham's Lenny Letter, or Refinery29 but I've grown tired of this sort read. maybe these were popular before because the authors were 'famous' in their corner of the internet and therefore had an audience that would cause their personal articles to go viral whereas now we are inundated with personal essays from people we do not know?