Best of 2022: Personal Essays

Today’s list compiles our editors’ picks for personal essays.

今天的列表汇集了我们编辑精选的个人论文。

While our team is small, we have a wide range of interests and are drawn to very different types of personal writing.

虽然我们的团队规模很小，但我们兴趣广泛，并且被不同类型的个人写作所吸引。

It’s often hard for each of us to select a single “favorite” for these lists, but we enjoy coming together each December to look back on all the stories we’ve picked to create these year-end lists.

我们每个人通常很难为这些列表选择一个“最喜欢的”，但我们喜欢每年 12 月聚在一起回顾我们挑选来创建这些年终列表的所有故事。

Similar to last year, we asked our writers, featured authors, and readers to share their favorite stories across categories.

与去年类似，我们要求作家、特色作者和读者跨类别分享他们最喜欢的故事。

You’ll see their recommendations alongside ours in this list and others to come this month.

您将在此列表中看到他们的建议以及我们的建议以及本月即将推出的其他建议。

Enjoy!

享受！

## Does My Son Know You?

## 我儿子认识你吗？

Jonathan Tjarks | The Ringer | March 3, 2022 | 2,738 words

乔纳森·蒂亚克斯 |铃声| 2022 年 3 月 3 日 | 2,738 字

Jonathan Tjarks was 33 years old when he learned he had cancer.

乔纳森·特贾克斯 (Jonathan Tjarks) 得知自己患有癌症时已经 33 岁了。

Thirty-three.

三十三。

He had a wife and a baby son and a sportswriting career that was humming along, and then he had cancer.

他有一个妻子和一个小儿子，体育写作事业进展顺利，然后他患上了癌症。

What he didn’t have was the willingness to go gently into that good night.

他没有的是温柔地走进那个良夜的意愿。

So he wrote about his fear, and he wrote about his faith and his friendships; how difficult those things were, how important they were.

所以他写下了他的恐惧，写下了他的信仰和友谊；这些事情有多困难，它们就有多重要。

He’d lost his own father when he was young, and he wanted more than anything for his son to avoid the slow erosion of community that he had known in the wake of his dad’s death.

他年轻时就失去了自己的父亲，他最希望儿子能够避免他在父亲去世后所知道的社区的缓慢侵蚀。

“I don’t want Jackson to have the same childhood that I did,” he wrote.

“我不希望杰克逊拥有和我一样的童年，”他写道。

“I want him to wonder why his dad’s friends always come over and shoot hoops with him.

“我想让他想知道为什么他爸爸的朋友总是过来和他一起投篮。

Why they always invite him to their houses.

为什么他们总是邀请他去他们家。

Why there are so many of them at his games.

为什么有这么多人参加他的比赛。

I hope that he gets sick of them.” Jonathan Tjarks was 34 years old when he died of cancer just a few short months after this essay was published.

我希望他能厌倦它们。”乔纳森·特贾克斯 (Jonathan Tjarks) 在本文发表后短短几个月内因癌症去世，享年 34 岁。

He’d done what he could to fight, and he’d done what he could to make sure that the friends he’d made would help his son navigate the world.

他已经尽了自己所能去战斗，也尽了自己所能来确保他所结交的朋友能够帮助他的儿子驾驭这个世界。

To the rest of us, he left this spare, frank, moving essay.

他给我们其他人留下了这篇简洁、坦率、感人的文章。

—Peter Rubin

——彼得·鲁宾

## On Metaphors and Snow Boots

## 关于隐喻和雪地靴

Annie Sand | Guernica | May 23, 2022 | 2,821 words

安妮·桑德 |格尔尼卡 | 2022 年 5 月 23 日 | 2,821 字

“Only sometimes will the ice hold my weight,” writes Annie Sand in this powerful essay at Guernica, in which she considers the meteorological metaphors she uses to understand and cope with mental illness.

“只有有时候冰才能支撑我的重量，”安妮·桑德在《格尔尼卡》这篇有力的文章中写道，她在文中思考了她用来理解和应对精神疾病的气象隐喻。

“Metaphor rushes in to fill gaps, to make meaning, and to conceal,” she says, as she attempts to assess the cost of a bout of anxiety in “hours of writing lost, hours of grading lost, hours of exercise lost, hours of sleep lost, hours of joy lost.” While metaphor can be a convenient way for us to attempt to understand the pain of others, language in all its power often comes up short, diminishing the complexities of human perception and experience with inadequate comparisons.

“隐喻涌入来填补空白，创造意义，并掩盖，”她说，同时她试图评估“失去的写作时间、评分时间、锻炼时间、睡眠时间、快乐时间”的焦虑成本。虽然隐喻可以成为我们尝试理解他人痛苦的一种便捷方式，但语言的全部力量往往会显得不足，通过不充分的比较来降低人类感知和经验的复杂性。

“When we use metaphor to conceal the unknowable, we make symbols out of human beings and allegory out of experience.

“当我们用隐喻来隐藏不可知的事物时，我们就从人类中创造出象征，从经验中创造出寓言。

We reduce our own pain to a precursor, a line item, a weather report,” she says.

我们将自己的痛苦简化为一个前兆、一个行项目、一份天气预报，”她说。

The key, Sand suggests, is to define pain and suffering for yourself: “I wonder instead if the answer is not to abstain from metaphor, but rather, each time society tries to wheat-paste an ill-fitting metaphor over our lives, to offer one of our own.” If you’ve ever tried to explain how you really feel — mentally or physically — to someone, you’ll appreciate Sand’s thinking.

桑德建议，关键是要为自己定义痛苦和苦难：“我想知道，答案是否不是放弃隐喻，而是每次社会试图在我们的生活中贴上一个不合适的隐喻，以提供我们自己的隐喻。”如果您曾经尝试向某人解释您的真实感受（精神上或身体上），您会欣赏桑德的想法。

—Krista Stevens

—克里斯塔·史蒂文斯

Annie Sand on the most impactful longform story she read this year:

安妮·桑德谈论她今年读到的最有影响力的长篇故事：

For me it has to be “Final Girl, Terrible Place” by Lesley Finn.

对我来说，它必须是莱斯利·芬恩的《最后的女孩，可怕的地方》。

She talks about the concept of the final girl in horror: the young woman who makes it to the end of the movie, but is nonetheless objectified within the story.

她谈到了恐怖中最后一个女孩的概念：这位年轻女子虽然坚持到了电影的结尾，但在故事中仍然被物化。

Her body is put on the line so the male psyche can experience threat from a distance.

她的身体处于危险之中，这样男性的心灵就可以感受到来自远处的威胁。

Reading the essay, I felt a flash of desperate recognition I hadn’t experienced since Leslie Jamison’s “Grand Unified Theory of Female Pain.” Finn captures so much of the uncertainty of being a teenage (and even preteen) girl: the way you feel the noose of culture and power closing in on you but have no name for it.

读完这篇文章，我突然感到一种绝望的认识，这是自从莱斯利·贾米森的《女性疼痛大统一理论》以来我从未经历过的。芬恩捕捉到了作为一个十几岁（甚至青春期前）女孩的不确定性：你感觉到文化和权力的绞索正在向你逼近，但你却无法为它命名。

Now in my early 30s, I’m helping to raise a teenage girl who is obsessed with horror, I suspect for similar reasons as Finn.

现在我 30 岁出头，正在帮助抚养一个痴迷于恐怖的少女，我怀疑她的原因与芬恩类似。

I think she sees herself in the final girl.

我想她在最后的女孩身上看到了自己。

Maybe over Christmas break we’ll read it together.

也许圣诞节假期我们会一起读它。

## 20 Days in Mariupol

## 马里乌波尔 20 天

Mstyslav Chernov | Associated Press | March 21, 2022 | 2,400 words

姆斯蒂斯拉夫·切尔诺夫 |美联社 | 2022 年 3 月 21 日 | 2,400 字

We tend to think of personal essays as marathons rather than sprints, feats of the written word that require time, training, and endurance to complete.

我们倾向于将个人论文视为马拉松而不是短跑，需要时间、训练和耐力才能完成的书面文字壮举。

But sometimes a brilliant essay is a mad dash because it has to be.

但有时一篇精彩的文章却是一次疯狂的冲刺，因为它必须如此。

Case in point, this harrowing piece that begins, “The Russians were hunting us down.

举个例子，这篇令人痛心的文章开头是：“俄罗斯人正在追捕我们。

They had a list of names, including ours, and they were closing in.” Video journalist Mstyslav Chernov’s account of witnessing and escaping the siege of Mariupol, Ukraine, is an essential first draft of history, penned in collaboration with Lori Hinnant, an AP colleague, and punctuated by photographer Evgeniy Maloletka’s chilling images.

他们有一份名单，其中包括我们的，而且他们正在逼近。”视频记者姆斯蒂斯拉夫·切尔诺夫 (Mstyslav Chernov) 目睹并逃离乌克兰马里乌波尔 (Mariupol) 围困的记录是重要的历史初稿，由美联社同事洛里·辛南特 (Lori Hinnant) 合作撰写，并由摄影师叶夫根尼·马洛莱特卡 (Evgeniy Maloletka) 拍摄的令人毛骨悚然的照片进行点缀。

In spare, unflinching language, Chernov describes Russia’s campaign to suppress the truth about its brutal assault on civilians.

切尔诺夫用简洁、坚定的语言描述了俄罗斯为压制其残酷袭击平民真相而采取的行动。

What lingers most vividly in my memory, though, are the essay’s interior parts, where Chernov conveys a raw mix of shock, fear, anger, and guilt about what, as a journalist, he saw, did, and couldn’t do.

然而，在我的记忆中最清晰的是这篇文章的内部部分，切尔诺夫在其中表达了他作为一名记者所看到的、所做的和不能做的事情的震惊、恐惧、愤怒和内疚。

These moments are what make such an otherwise immediate piece timeless: Chernov captures the essence of both conflict reporting and what it means to be the person doing it.

这些时刻使得这样一个直接的作品变得永恒：切尔诺夫抓住了冲突报道的本质以及作为报道者意味着什么。

—Seyward Darby

——西沃德·达比

## To Live in the Ending

## 活在结局中

Alyssa Harad | Kenyon Review | July 29, 2022 | 6,113 words

艾莉莎·哈拉德 |凯尼恩评论| 2022 年 7 月 29 日 | 6,113 字

When it was time to select an essay for this category, I immediately knew the type of piece I wanted to highlight.

当需要为该类别选择一篇文章时，我立即知道我想要强调的文章类型。

Week after week, it’s so easy to get lost in #sadreads, especially about the state of the planet.

一周又一周，人们很容易在#sadreads 中迷失方向，尤其是关于地球状况的内容。

I’ve found some comfort in writing about the Earth and the climate crisis that, while urgent and often dismal, ultimately challenges me to think in new ways — and which helps me see a path toward a better future.

在撰写有关地球和气候危机的文章时，我找到了一些安慰，虽然危机紧迫且往往令人沮丧，但最终挑战我以新的方式思考——这帮助我看到了一条通往更美好未来的道路。

I count Alyssa Harad’s gorgeous braided essay about the end of the world and the language of the apocalypse as one of this kind of piece — I’ve kept thinking about it for months.

我把艾莉莎·哈拉德（Alyssa Harad）关于世界末日和启示录语言的华丽文章视为此类文章之一——我已经思考了它好几个月了。

Instead of relying on catastrophe narratives or thinking of the end as a singular event, Harad considers life as a series of “nested crises,” and explains that “worlds end all the time.” I love the way she artfully weaves her observations about the world with musings that trace her own thinking since she was a child, and reflects on how she’s come to make sense of the uncertain times in which we live.

哈拉德没有依赖灾难叙事或将终结视为单一事件，而是将生命视为一系列“嵌套的危机”，并解释说“世界总是在终结”。我喜欢她巧妙地将她对世界的观察与她从小以来的思考交织在一起的沉思，并反思她如何理解我们生活的不确定时代。

It’s an essay, but it’s also a journey, and it deeply inspired me, as both a writer and a human.

这是一篇文章，也是一次旅程，它深深地启发了我，无论是作为一个作家还是一个人。

—Cheri Lucas Rowlands

——切里·卢卡斯·罗兰兹

Alyssa Harad recommends a piece that made her smile this year:

Alyssa Harad 推荐今年让她微笑的一件作品：

“Unconditional Death Is a Good Title,” a selection in The Paris Review from the pandemic journal kept by the late-but-always-and-forever-great poet Bernadette Mayer, surges with the life and joy typical of Mayer’s work: “not growing old gracefully,” Mayer writes, “i’ve chosen to grow old awkwardly, like a teenager.”

《巴黎评论》从已故但永远伟大的诗人伯纳黛特·梅耶 (Bernadette Mayer) 保存的流行病杂志中摘录的《无条件死亡是一个好标题》充满了梅耶尔作品中典型的生命和欢乐：“我没有优雅地变老，”梅耶尔写道，“我选择像青少年一样笨拙地变老。”

## 14 Hours in the Queue to See Queen Elizabeth’s Coffin

## 排队 14 小时才能看到伊丽莎白女王的灵柩

Laurie Penny | British GQ | September 18, 2022 | 3,415 words

劳里·佩妮 |英国《GQ》| 2022 年 9 月 18 日 | 3,415 字

The Queue to see Queen Elizabeth’s coffin seems particularly bizarre now that the moment has passed.

既然这一刻已经过去了，去看伊丽莎白女王灵柩的队伍似乎显得特别奇怪。

Looking back at it is akin to waking up after too many beers and analyzing the deep connection you thought you shared with the bartender.

回顾它就像喝了太多啤酒后醒来并分析你认为自己与调酒师之间的深厚联系一样。

Laurie Penny found it awkward even at the emotional height of the time, and she approaches the Queue with a healthy amount of cynicism (and snacks).

即使在当时情绪最激动的时候，劳里·佩妮（Laurie Penny）也觉得这很尴尬，她以一种健康的愤世嫉俗（和零食）的方式接近队列。

However, within the Queue, she finds incredible camaraderie and a shared sense of loss, not just for the Queen, for, as Penny states, “almost everyone I speak to turns out to have recently lost someone, or something important.” The loss from COVID-19 is also apparent as the Queue shuffles past the National COVID Memorial, naming the people who succumbed to the pandemic, and Penny realizes, “about as many people queued past that wall as there are names on it.” The passing of Elizabeth II created something that, for a brief moment, allowed people to come together and mourn and grieve in solidarity.

然而，在队列中，她发现了令人难以置信的友情和共同的失落感，不仅仅是女王，正如佩妮所说，“几乎所有与我交谈过的人最近都失去了某人或某件重要的东西。”当人们排队经过国家新冠肺炎纪念馆时，人们也很明显地感受到了因新冠肺炎 (COVID-19) 而造成的损失，人们纷纷点名死于这场大流行病的人们，佩妮意识到，“排队经过那堵墙的人数与墙上的名字一样多。”伊丽莎白二世的去世创造了一种短暂的时刻，让人们聚集在一起，团结一致哀悼和悲伤。

Mourn and grieve for many things after some difficult years.

在经历了一些困难的岁月之后，对许多事情感到哀悼和悲伤。

With barriers down — for whatever reason — there can be tremendous release in shared emotion.

无论出于何种原因，随着障碍的消除，共同的情感就会得到巨大的释放。

This essay made me think about many things beyond the Queen: community, loss, and loneliness, to name a few.

这篇文章让我思考了女王之外的许多事情：社区、失落和孤独等等。

It also made me laugh, which is the splendid thing about Laurie Penny’s writing — she can make you ponder through a chuckle.

这也让我发笑，这就是劳里·佩妮写作的精彩之处——她能让你通过笑声来思考。

—Carolyn Wells

——卡罗琳·威尔斯

You can also browse all of our year-end collections since 2011 in one place.

您还可以在一处浏览我们自 2011 年以来的所有年终系列。