Hi!
We are trying to settle a bet and determine which is the longest published essay ever written.
So far the winner is Descartes “Discourse on the Method”, but this is around 80 pages.
Are there any essays out there double in size? (any subject)
Thanks
Immanuel Kant’s “Critique of Pure Reason” runs to 728 pages according to Amazon, so there are definitely philosophical works longer than 80 pages out there. What sort of things do you define as “essays” though? I assume it is nonfictional works by a single author. There are plenty of long books out there such as multi-volume histories. Will and Ariel Durant’s “The Story of Civilization” comes to mind - 11 volumes all in the 700+ page range. I’m sure there are longer works than that too.
My first semester in grad school, intimidated by being there, I kind of overdid it and turned in a 290 page paper on “Coercion”. Does that count?
Only if you published it… and let me just say that it would be awesome to hand in a book for an assignment. 