Creative nonfiction (also known as literary or narrative nonfiction) is a genre A genre (pronounced /ˈʒɑːnrə/, also /ˈdʒɑːnrə/; from French "kind" or "sort", from Latin: genus , Greek: genos, γένος) is a loose set of criteria for a category of composition; the term is often used to categorize literature and speech, but is also used for any other form of art or utterance. Genres are vague of writing Writing is the representation of language in a textual medium through the use of a set of signs or symbols . It is distinguished from illustration, such as cave drawing and painting, and the recording of language via a non-textual medium such as magnetic tape audio truth which uses literary styles and techniques to create factually accurate narratives. Creative nonfiction contrasts with other nonfiction Non-fiction is an account or representation of a subject which is presented as fact. This presentation may be accurate or not; that is, it can give either a true or a false account of the subject in question. However, it is generally assumed that the authors of such accounts believe them to be truthful at the time of their composition. Note that, such as technical writing Technical writing, a form of technical communication, is a style of formal writing and is used in fields as diverse as computer hardware and software, chemistry, the aerospace industry, robotics, finance, consumer electronics, and biotechnology. Technical writers explain technology and related ideas to technical and nontechnical audiences. This or journalism Journalism is the production of news reports and editorials through media such as newspapers, magazines, radio, television and the Internet. Journalists—be they writers, editors, photographers, broadcast presenters or producers—serve as the main purveyors of information and opinion in contemporary society, which is also rooted in accurate fact, but is not primarily written in service to its craft. As a genre, creative nonfiction is still relatively young, and is only beginning to be scrutinized with the same critical analysis given to fiction Fiction, from the Latin fingere to create, fictum created, is anything imaginatively invented, a feigned existence, event, or state of things. In a second more concrete and basically 20th-century meaning fiction has become the general term uniting all the literary genres that developed with the modern novel and poetry Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning. Poetry may be written independently, as discrete poems, or may occur in conjunction with other arts, as in poetic drama, hymns or lyrics.
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Characteristics and definition
For a text to be considered creative nonfiction, it must be factually accurate, and written with attention to literary style Writing style is the manner in which a writer addresses a matter in prose. A style reveals the writer's personality or 'voice.' It is the result of the choices the writer makes in syntactical structures, diction, and figures of thought. Similar questions of style exist in the choice of spoken language and technique. “Ultimately, the primary goal of the creative nonfiction writer is to communicate information, just like a reporter, but to shape it in a way that reads like fiction.” [1] Forms within this genre include personal essays An essay is usually a short piece of writing. It is often written from an author's personal point of view. Essays can be literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author, memoir As a literary genre, a memoir , forms a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable in modern parlance. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir, as listed here. The author of a memoir may be referred to as a memoirist, travel writing Travel writing is often associated with tourism, and includes works of an ephemeral nature such as guide books. Travel writing has also been produced by other types of travelers, such as missionaries, explorers, scientists, pilgrims, and immigrants, food writing A list of some prominent writers on food, cooking, dining, and cultural history related to food, biography A biography is a description or account of someone's life, which is usually published in the form of a book or essay, or in some other form, such as a film. An autobiography is a biography of a person's life written or told by that same person. A biography is more than a list of impersonal facts (education, work, relationships, and death), it also, literary journalism Creative nonfiction is a genre of writing truth which uses literary styles and techniques to create factually accurate narratives. Creative nonfiction contrasts with other nonfiction, such as technical writing or journalism, which is also rooted in accurate fact, but is not primarily written in service to its craft. As a genre, creative nonfiction, and other hybridized essays. Critic Chris Anderson claims that the genre can be understood best by splitting it into two subcategories—the personal essay and the journalistic essay—but the genre is currently defined by its lack of established conventions. [2]
Literary critic Barbara Lounsberry in her book The Art of Fact suggests four constitutive characteristics of the genre, the first of which is “Documentable subject matter chosen from the real world as opposed to ‘invented’ from the writer’s mind.” [3] By this, she means that the topics and events discussed in the text verifiably exist in the natural world. The second characteristic is “Exhaustive research,” [3] which she claims allows writers “novel perspectives on their subjects” and “also permits them to establish the credibility of their narratives through verifiable references in their texts.” [4] The third characteristic that Lounsberry claims is crucial in defining the genre is “The scene”. She stresses the importance of describing and revivifying the context of events in contrast to the typical journalistic style of objective reportage. [5] The fourth and final feature she suggests is “Fine writing: a literary prose style”. “Verifiable subject matter and exhaustive research guarantee the nonfiction side of literary nonfiction; the narrative form and structure disclose the writer’s artistry; and finally, its polished language reveals that the goal all along has been literature.” [6]
Creative nonfiction may be structured like traditional fiction narratives, as is true of Fenton Johnson John Fenton Johnson was born ninth of nine children into a Kentucky whiskey-making family with a strong storytelling tradition. He is the author of two novels, Crossing the River and Scissors, Paper, Rock (Washington Square Press as well as Geography of the Heart: A Memoir (Scribner). His most recent book Keeping Faith: A Skeptic's Journey among's story of love and loss, "Geography of the Heart," and Virginia Holman's "Rescuing Patty Hearst." When book-length works of creative nonfiction follow a story-like arc, they are sometimes called narrative nonfiction. Creative nonfiction often escapes traditional boundaries of narrative altogether, as happens in the bittersweet banter of Natalia Ginzburg's essay, "He and I," and in John McPhee John Angus McPhee is a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer widely considered one of the pioneers of narrative nonfiction. Unlike Tom Wolfe and Hunter Thompson, who helped kick-start the "new journalism" which, in the 1960s, revolutionized nonfiction, McPhee produced a gentler style of literary journalism by incorporating techniques from novels's hypnotic tour of Atlantic City, "In Search of Marvin Gardens."
Ethics
| This section contains weasel words, vague phrasing that often accompanies biased or unverifiable information. Such statements should be clarified or removed. (June 2009) |
In recent years, several well-publicized incidents within the United States have called into question the truthfulness and factual standards of creative nonfiction.[citation needed] Given its different styles and characteristics, it is not held to the same journalistic ethics and standards as direct reporting or news publications.[citation needed] Its allowances of artistic license Artistic license is a colloquial term, sometime euphemism, used to denote the distortion or complete ignorance of fact, ignoring the conventions of grammar or language, or the changing of an established fact that an artist may undertake in the name of art. For example, if an artist decided it was more artistically desirable to portray St. Paul's to authors are not standardized, and some[who?] have accused writers of glorification of interpretation, and even of fabrication.[citation needed] A recent example of these incidents[citation needed] is the James Frey James Christopher Frey is an American writer. His memoirs A Million Little Pieces (2003) and My Friend Leonard (2005) were each bestsellers. In late 2005 and early 2006, investigators discovered that elements of his memoir, A Million Little Pieces, were untrue controversy in regards to his memoir A Million Little Pieces A Million Little Pieces is a controversial memoir by James Frey. It tells the story of a 23-year-old alcoholic and drug abuser and how he copes with rehabilitation in a Twelve Steps-oriented treatment center, published in 2003. In his memoir, Frey claimed to have had certain experiences, which were revealed in 2006 to be fabrications.[7]
Literary criticism
To date, there is very little published literary criticism Literary criticism is the study, discussion, evaluation, and interpretation of literature of various forms. A book review is the most common form of literary criticism. Often literary criticism deals with particular literary works. Modern literary criticism is frequently informed by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of its of nonfiction works, despite the fact that the genre is often published in respected publications such as The New Yorker The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry published by Condé Nast Publications. Starting as a weekly in the mid-1920s, the magazine is now published 47 times per year, with five of these issues covering two-week spans, Vanity Fair Vanity Fair is an American magazine of culture, fashion, and politics published by Condé Nast Publications. The present Vanity Fair has been published since 1981 and there have been editions for four European countries as well as the U.S. edition. This revived the title which had ceased publication in 1935 after a run from 1913: the worldwide, and others.[citation needed] A handful of the most widely recognized writers in the genre such as Gay Talese, Tom Wolfe Thomas Kennerly Wolfe, Jr. , known as Tom Wolfe, is a best-selling American author and journalist. He is one of the founders of the New Journalism movement of the 1960s and 1970s, John McPhee John Angus McPhee is a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer widely considered one of the pioneers of narrative nonfiction. Unlike Tom Wolfe and Hunter Thompson, who helped kick-start the "new journalism" which, in the 1960s, revolutionized nonfiction, McPhee produced a gentler style of literary journalism by incorporating techniques from novels, Joan Didion Joan Didion is an American author best known as a novelist and writer of personalized, journalistic essays. The disintegration of American morals and cultural chaos upon which her essays comment are explored more fully in her novels, where the overriding theme is individual and social fragmentation. A sense of anxiety or dread permeates much of and Norman Mailer Norman Kingsley Mailer was an American novelist, journalist, essayist, poet, playwright, screenwriter and film director, have seen some criticism on their more prominent works. “Critics to date, however, have tended to focus on only one or two of each writer’s works, to illustrate particular critical points.” [8] These analyses of a few key pieces are hardly in-depth or as comprehensive as the criticism and analyses of their fictional contemporaries. As the popularity of the genre continues to expand, many nonfiction authors and a handful of literary critics are calling for more extensive literary analysis of the genre.
“If, these four features delimit an important art form of our time, a discourse grounded in fact but artful in execution that might be called literary nonfiction, what is needed is serious critical attention of all kinds to this work: formal criticism (both Russian Formalism Russian formalism was an influential school of literary criticism in Russia from the 1910s to the 1930s. It includes the work of a number of highly influential Russian and Soviet scholars such as Viktor Shklovsky, Yuri Tynianov, Boris Eichenbaum, Roman Jakobson, Grigory Vinokur who revolutionised literary criticism between 1914 and the 1930s by and New Criticism New Criticism was a dominant trend in English and American literary criticism of the mid twentieth century, from the 1920s to the early 1960s. Its adherents were emphatic in their advocacy of close reading and attention to texts themselves, and their rejection of criticism based on extra-textual sources, especially biography), historical, biographical, cultural, structuralist Structuralism is an approach to the human sciences that attempts to analyze a specific field as a complex system of interrelated parts. It began in linguistics with the work of Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913). But many French intellectuals perceived it to have a wider application, and the model was soon modified and applied to other fields, such and deconstructionist Deconstruction is the name given by French philosopher Jacques Derrida to an approach which rigorously pursues the meaning of a text to the point of undoing the oppositions on which it is apparently founded, and to the point of showing that those foundations are irreducibly complex, unstable or impossible, reader-response criticism and feminist Feminism is an intellectual, philosophical and political discourse aimed at equal rights and legal protection for women. It involves various movements, theories, and philosophies, all concerned with issues of gender difference; that advocate equality for women; and that campaign for women's rights and interests. According to Maggie Humm and (criticism).” [8]
“Nonfiction is no longer the bastard child, the second class citizen; literature Literature is the art of written works. Literally translated, the word means "acquaintance with letters" , and therefore the academic study of literature is known as Letters (as in the phrase "Arts and Letters"). In Western culture the most basic written literary types include fiction and nonfiction is no longer reified, mystified, unavailable. This is the contribution that poststructuralist theory has to make to an understanding of literary nonfiction, since poststructuralist theorists are primarily concerned with how we make meaning and secure authority for claims in meaning of language.” [9]
References
- ^ Gutkind, Lee (2007). The Best Creative Nonfiction, Vol. 1. New York: W. W. Norton. pp. xi. ISBN 0393330036.
- ^ Anderson, page ix.
- ^ a b Lounsberry, Barbara (1990). The art of fact: contemporary artists of nonfiction. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press. xiii. ISBN 0313268932.
- ^ Lounsberry, page xiii-xiv
- ^ Lounsberry, page xiv-xv
- ^ Lounsberry, page xv
- ^ Wyatt, Edward (2006-01-10). "Best-Selling Memoir Draws Scrutiny". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/10/books/10frey.html. Retrieved on 2008-01-24.
- ^ a b Lounsberry, page xvi
- ^ Anderson, Chris (1989). Literary nonfiction: theory, criticism, pedagogy. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press. xix-x. ISBN 0809314053.
Further reading
Chronological order of publication (oldest first)
- Johnson, E. L.; Wolfe, Tom (1975). The New Journalism. London: Pan Books. ISBN 0330243152.
- Gutkind, Lee (1997). The Art of Creative Nonfiction: Writing and Selling the Literature of Reality. New York: Wiley. ISBN 0471113565.
- Associated Writing Programs; Forche, Carolyn; Gerard, Philip (2001). Writing Creative Nonfiction: Instruction and Insights from Teachers of the Associated Writing Programs. Cincinnati: Writer's Digest Books. ISBN 1884910505.
- Dillard, Annie; Gutkind, Lee (2005). In Fact: The Best of Creative Nonfiction. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. ISBN 0393326659.
- Gutkind, Lee, ed. (2008). Keep It Real: Everything You Need to Know About Researching and Writing Creative Nonfiction. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. ISBN 9780393065619.
External links
- Creative Nonfiction — a journal devoted exclusively to the genre
- What is creative non-fiction? Phil Druker, University of Idaho The University of Idaho is Idaho's flagship and oldest public university, located in the rural city of Moscow in Latah County. It is the state's land-grant and primary research university. The University of Idaho was the state's only university until 1963, and hosts the state's only law school, which was established in 1909 and accredited by the
- Bruce Dobler's Creative Nonfiction Compendium, Bruce Dobler, University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh, commonly referred to as Pitt, is a state-related research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Chartered in 1787, Pitt is highly regarded in academic fields ranging from philosophy to medicine, and is well known for the development of the first Polio vaccine as well as its landmark
- Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction, Canada
- Scholarship as an Act of Discovery
Audio/video links
- Audio CSPAN - Interview with Lee Gutkind gives a definition of the genre
- Audio CSPAN - Interview with Lee Gutkind gives examples of authors who write in the genre
Categories: Literary genres | Journalism genres | Newswriting | Non-fiction literature
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Massify Interview: . Creative Nonfiction. . Cast: Massify.
