An Essay as a Work of Art: a Different Reality in the Focus of the Spanish Observer

Abstract

In this article, the essay is considered as a genre of documentary fiction, which conveys a series of impressions from an observer, structured in accordance with the principles of an artwork. In all the texts studied, the author's idiosyncrasy is marked by a vivid personality. Notably, it is conveyed using maximum expressivity, implying the creation of a special flavour of qualitative features of objects, phenomena and actions presented as a work of art. When choosing the means of artistic expression, Spanish authors prefer rarely used, often archaic language forms. Consideration of literary and cultural essays written in the form of philosophical and lyrical sketches allows us to conclude that their Spanish authors, obeying the task of creating the most perfect aesthetic representation of someone else's geocultural space for their readers, carry it out focusing on the traditional dominants of creative perception — history and mythology. The space directly connected with mythology is of the highest value for the Spanish observer: places associated with ancient myths evoke creative awe and are designed to revive long-forgotten archetypes of knowledge in the imagination of contemporaries. In this way, they establish a special relationship with the outside world ('mundus realis'), transforming it through aestheticizing interpretation, and place the reader in the world of their imagination ('mundus imaginabilis'), giving reality a special value and perfect form. Thus, the creative act of the master of the word elevates the image to the height of an artwork and changes the reader's perception of the world, who gets an ability to see the sacred meanings hidden from a profane gaze.

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