The Essay in Times of Crisis

This contribution to Performance Philosophy 4.1 ‘Crisis/Krisis’ explores the breeding ground of the genre of the essay: a state of crisis and transition. This text was conceived and written in line with the editors’ open call for this thematic issue and its search to reassess and revaluate the notion of krisis. In the contribution, I will foreground the essay’s qualities and critical potential—which also can be detected in contemporary performing arts—to revaluate the notion of krisis. By exploring Montaigne, Adorno, and Lukács, I will try to claim that the nature and purpose of the essay offers a welcome counterweight to our swift and superficial way of judging dictated by mainstream media.