Stanislaw Jerzy Lec in Unkempt Thoughts (1957)

American publishing industry is flooded out with biographies, autobiographies and memoirs. So are journals. And the flooding accelerates. Even daily newspapers carry very personalized reports, not to mention open-ed columns. I dislike it, I dislike it very much. I’m also annoyed by the abundance of quotes in a subject oriented text and direct discourse in nonfiction writings. Moreover, in recent years most authors in The Best American Essays, an annual from Best American series I enjoy reading, write predominantly about themselves. As I said, I disfavor them. So I feel somehow pleased if not encouraged in my attitude by the comments in the 2012 annual by David Brooks (the book editor) and Robert Atwan (the series editor): they both long for the old days when essays were written on topics, the essays which nevertheless were personal essays being based on an individual perspective. Essayists of the old days liked to "examine - or, to use an essayist favorite term, consider - topics from various perspectives", says Robert Arwan in his foreword.

Favorable, promising signs? I doubt it. Look how Brooks and Atwan start out their writings: