We are told that good writing is clear, concise, and decisive. That a blog post should be 1,500 words. That a tweet should be sharp. That a thought should have a conclusion.
So when I stumbled across the phrase "the longest essay in the world," I expected a punchline. Maybe a spammy SEO article about why pineapple belongs on pizza (40,000 words). Or a deranged manifesto left on a library printer. longest essay in the world
I was wrong.
And in that impossible, bloated, beautiful failure, he succeeded. We are told that good writing is clear,