David Stromberg’s “Abstract Writing” is a notable essay in the The Best American Essays 2023 – congratulations to David! “Abstract Writing” originally appeared in our Baring the Device column; to read his essay, please click here.
Excerpt:
“Rigor is a word that’s used more often in theoretical mathematics than in the creative arts. It has to do with the process of proving something as seemingly simple as the idea that 1 + 1 = 2. In math, one and one cannot be presumed to equal two – or twenty or a hundred or infinity – unless it is proven using rigor. Doing so depends on defining the parameters of each element, defining the parameters of the operation, and then showing that, in a realm functioning according to these definitions, elements that are operated upon in this particular way preserve their integrity. This, in short, is rigor in mathematics…”
David’s fiction writing can also be found in our Stranged Writing anthology. Click here for more information about our multimedia print anthology.