THEORESIS OF THE ESSAY AS A LITERARY WORK: WRITING DISCOURSE

The article systematizes the aspects of theorizing the essay as a work of art from the point of view of modern writers and proposes the positioning of this theory in the modern scientific discourse. Writers, writing essays and thereby creating a new space for their own self-realization, simultaneously mark it as a topos of awareness of this phenomenon itself. Writers, thinking about the essence of Montaigne's work, do not form the actual theory of the work, but propose new aspects of it, make important accents in current developments, individualize the positions developed by other researchers. The article draws attention to these processes as a priori characteristic of the postmodern era. The main platforms on which artists propose their own essay theory are analyzed: first, prefaces to collections; secondly, a specially written text, the genre of which can be conventionally described as "essay about essays"; thirdly, interviews or other ways of public presentation of one's creativity; fourth, means completely unrelated to writing: trainings, webinars, meetings with readers, public lectures, etc. It is proposed to consider the writer's theorization of the essay as an alternative to the official scientific one. It was concluded that the writer's generalizations about this work cannot claim to be a separate theory of the Montaigne genre, except for its elaboration; meanwhile, his achievements will significantly complement and diversify the current works on this work-reflection. The conclusions were drawn based on the analysis of various texts by S. Andruhovich, Yu. Andruhovich, O. Boychenko, A. Bondary, I. Bondary-Tereshchenko, S. Grabary, A. Dnistrovoy, S. Zhadan, O. Zabuzhko, I. Luchuk, M. Layuk, A. Lyubka, B. Matiyash, O. Mykheda, V. Neborak, T. Prokhaska, R. Chopyka, etc. In general, the view of artists on the genre of the essay may well claim a separate discourse of this phenomenon as such, and the details of the author's opinions are valuable due to the personal experience of the authors themselves as practitioners and their ability to systematize this experience on a different level.