"City: An Essay" by Brian Lennon
How do we come to know a place, and in seeking to know it do we make it foreign from ourselves? Do we tackle it from other perspectives-the excavator, the traveler, the observant witness? Can we know a place without the blur of our identity, or does the attempt to extricate ourselves from the external lead only deeper? These are the questions tackled by Brian Lennon in his lyrical essay titled City: An Essay. This is a piece of work different from your usual books and essays, as it can be considered a few different things, such as an essay, prose poetry or a lyrical essay. And since it is different from the usual essay and short story, the format is also different. There are six sections, or chapters, in the essay: Broadway, Sleep, Notes to the Unwritten, Text on the Weather, Love is Three Things and Nineteen Italian Days.
Each section has a different type of format. In Broadway and Sleep, Lennon writes in prose. In Notes to the Unwritten, the format almost seems citational, as he uses the small footnote numbers preceding the first word in which his paragraph then talks about. In Texts on the Weather, the format is very casual, almost like a diary entry or notes one would take during a lecture. In Love is Three Things, the format is prose-like, but not fully prose. Then there is Nineteen Italian Days, it is written in prose, yet Lennon numbers each paragraph to note where in the day that certain event had transpired.
3.1 HOW DO YOU CROSS THE STREET in the City? And other speculations. Language swelling like water or come drilling at you. The Golf's engine on these roads. In the headlights, skin of the landscape: valley shadow. And one particular road sign.
Stinged light traces the tower. Darkened houses ringing the piazza: below, on the stones, your steps ring and the different and same night bursts on your eyes.
In this chapter, Lennon marks each paragraph with a number, and a point. For example, one paragraph is marked "9.7." I believe that the marking of the paragraphs in this chapter indicate the day and the time of the day. For example, "9.7" could indicate the third day, later in the day close to maybe 7 o'clock or later. The point 7 also could indicate that the paragraph is talking about later in the day as opposed to 9.1.
Yet, the word 'essay' can be defined as "an analytic or interpretative literary composition usually dealing with its subject from a limited or personal point of view" or "something resembling such a composition." Lennonincludes this term in his subtitle. The term 'essay' can also imply something singular and could even imply an argument. This term is widely used as meaning a long paper that argues a main point, however Lennon seems to be using this term quite loosely for his book. It doesn't seem that he is arguing anything in particular. Throughout Lennon's work, he is talking in small paragraphs, each on their own page. In only one chapter out of the six, Love is Three Things, in which Lennon is actually trying to argue what love is. But in his other chapters, he is not trying to argue anything.
His book, with his subtitle being "An Essay", does not resemble an actual essay. An essay has three parts to it: an introduction with a thesis, multiple paragraphs arguing for or against the thesis and a conclusion. Lennon's piece, while it does argue or try to grapple with the idea of what love is, doesn't exactly resemble the format of an essay. Not only does his book resemble the format of an essay, all six of the topics that Lennon addresses do not seem connected at all. Maybe Broadway and Nineteen Italian Days could be connected, Lennon is trying to write about cities here. But all of his sections are also formatted differently too. In Notes to the Unwritten, Lennon is using citation forms -specifically footnote citations. In Text on the Weather, the format is very similar to note taking, which would make sense given the title of the chapter.
While Lennon's book may not resemble the format of an analytical essay, I believe that his book could have a subtle argument in the undertones of his words. The book is titled The City. What if Lennon is arguing about what a city truly is? He both starts and ends his book with a chapter about an actual city, like New York City, and a city in Italy. What if Lennon is trying to capsulate the features of what cities are? What if that is his argument? Broadway is his thesis, and Italy is his conclusion. Sleep argues for New York, and so does Text on the Weather, but if so, then what is Notes to the Unwritten for? And what is Love is Three Things for?
Overall, this was enjoyable to read. While I do have some questions about the book/essay for Lennon, this book is a great book to knock out on a rainy day. It is short, compact and very thought-provoking. If you are looking for a book with those three characteristics, then do I have a book for you.