I once went to a talk given by someone who had just returned from a war zone and everything he said was about himself. It was not the story of the war but rather the story of him, experiencing war. Not what was happening, but what he was feeling. I hate that. I don’t want to do that. But when I sit down to write an essay, it doesn’t work unless I put myself in it. I do my best writing when I put myself in the story. So that’s a dilemma or at least a contradiction.
It is the point, revealing ourselves, or yourself without “you” being the topic