Creative Nonfiction
_________________________
This page was last
edited on
01/18/08
contact info: maynardp@earthlink.net
What It Isn't
by Maynard Poland
A New York Times book reviewer characterized Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil as a "true crime book," describing it as "a peculiar combination of true crime and travelogue," based on John Berendt's eight years of living part-time in Savannah. The reviewer summarizes:
"Mr. Berendt's writing is elegant and wickedly funny and his eye for telling details is superb. In recounting the tale of Williams's trials, he frequently veers off and includes overheard conversations, funny vignettes and bits of historical and architectural data ö a method that works wonderfully·"
Because it is based on real life events and extensive interviews of real people, is Midnight a work of creative nonfiction, as it would appear to be? Lee Gutkind (see previous installments) doesn't think so, as he explains:
"John Berendt·admitted to making up saucy dialogue for a real-life character and creating situations in order to more easily manipulate his narrative. "I call it rounding the corners," he explained·with "no regrets" because he felt he was giving his readers "a better story." But it is not a true story and denotes inexcusable laziness. When confronted with a character who might not have exactly scintillating things to say, a good writer [in the creative nonfiction genre], rather than making up better stuff, will work harder to discover other aspects of the subject that are interesting." — from Writing Creative Nonfiction
So, Lee Gutkind is pretty clear that he does not consider Midnight to be a work of creative nonfiction. Ernest Hemingway may not have had creative nonfiction in mind, but it seems likely that Lee Gutkind would nonetheless apply the following Hemingway quote to the writing of creative nonfiction:
"The most essential gift for a good writer is a built-in shockproof shit detector. This is the
writer's radar, and all great writers have it."
In Paris Review Spring 1958, from The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, 369:14.
Call It What You Will, But...
by Maynard D. Poland
Derisive articles and opinions about recognizing creative nonfiction as a legitimate term for a genre of writing appeared in the late 1990âs. Vanity Fair, The New York Times, The New Yorker, among others, not only didnât like the term, but expressed opinions that the form, which was becoming quite popular (particularly memoir) would be little better than a passing fancy.
A number of alternative terms were presented, including narrative nonfiction, literary journalism, and expository writing. Lee Gutkind, a Professor in the English Department at the University of Pittsburgh, who has been called "The Godfather" of creative nonfiction, got a good laugh over the resulting confusion when he was spotted at an airport by a woman who pointed at him and remarked, "Hey, it's the uncreative fiction guy!"
However, The National Endowment for the Arts has adopted creative nonfiction as accurately describing the various styles that have in common:"factual prose that is also literary " infused with the stylistic devices, tropes, and rhetorical flourishes of the best fiction and the most lyrical of narrative poetry. It is fact-based writing·[that has] foremost a fidelity to accuracy, to truthfulness.
"It's very literariness distinguishes this writing from deadline reportage, daily journalism, academic criticism, and critical biography. It is storytelling of a very high order through the revelation of character and the suspense of plot, the subtle braiding of themes, rhythms and resonance, memory and imaginative research, precise and original language·" —from Writing Creative Nonfiction by Carolyn Forche and Philip Gerard
This page was last edited on 01/18/08
contact info: maynardp@earthlink.net
contact info: maynardp@earthlink.net
What It Isn't
by Maynard Poland
A New York Times book reviewer characterized Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil as a "true crime book," describing it as "a peculiar combination of true crime and travelogue," based on John Berendt's eight years of living part-time in Savannah. The reviewer summarizes:
A New York Times book reviewer characterized Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil as a "true crime book," describing it as "a peculiar combination of true crime and travelogue," based on John Berendt's eight years of living part-time in Savannah. The reviewer summarizes:
"Mr. Berendt's writing is elegant and wickedly funny and his eye for telling details is superb. In recounting the tale of Williams's trials, he frequently veers off and includes overheard conversations, funny vignettes and bits of historical and architectural data ö a method that works wonderfully·"
"Mr. Berendt's writing is elegant and wickedly funny and his eye for telling details is superb. In recounting the tale of Williams's trials, he frequently veers off and includes overheard conversations, funny vignettes and bits of historical and architectural data ö a method that works wonderfully·"
Because it is based on real life events and extensive interviews of real people, is Midnight a work of creative nonfiction, as it would appear to be? Lee Gutkind (see previous installments) doesn't think so, as he explains:
Because it is based on real life events and extensive interviews of real people, is Midnight a work of creative nonfiction, as it would appear to be? Lee Gutkind (see previous installments) doesn't think so, as he explains:
"John Berendt·admitted to making up saucy dialogue for a real-life character and creating situations in order to more easily manipulate his narrative. "I call it rounding the corners," he explained·with "no regrets" because he felt he was giving his readers "a better story." But it is not a true story and denotes inexcusable laziness. When confronted with a character who might not have exactly scintillating things to say, a good writer [in the creative nonfiction genre], rather than making up better stuff, will work harder to discover other aspects of the subject that are interesting." — from Writing Creative Nonfiction
"John Berendt·admitted to making up saucy dialogue for a real-life character and creating situations in order to more easily manipulate his narrative. "I call it rounding the corners," he explained·with "no regrets" because he felt he was giving his readers "a better story." But it is not a true story and denotes inexcusable laziness. When confronted with a character who might not have exactly scintillating things to say, a good writer [in the creative nonfiction genre], rather than making up better stuff, will work harder to discover other aspects of the subject that are interesting." — from Writing Creative Nonfiction
So, Lee Gutkind is pretty clear that he does not consider Midnight to be a work of creative nonfiction. Ernest Hemingway may not have had creative nonfiction in mind, but it seems likely that Lee Gutkind would nonetheless apply the following Hemingway quote to the writing of creative nonfiction:
So, Lee Gutkind is pretty clear that he does not consider Midnight to be a work of creative nonfiction. Ernest Hemingway may not have had creative nonfiction in mind, but it seems likely that Lee Gutkind would nonetheless apply the following Hemingway quote to the writing of creative nonfiction:
"The most essential gift for a good writer is a built-in shockproof shit detector. This is the
writer's radar, and all great writers have it."
"The most essential gift for a good writer is a built-in shockproof shit detector. This is the writer's radar, and all great writers have it."
In Paris Review Spring 1958, from The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, 369:14.
In Paris Review Spring 1958, from The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, 369:14.
Call It What You Will, But...
Call It What You Will, But...
by Maynard D. Poland
by Maynard D. Poland
Derisive articles and opinions about recognizing creative nonfiction as a legitimate term for a genre of writing appeared in the late 1990âs. Vanity Fair, The New York Times, The New Yorker, among others, not only didnât like the term, but expressed opinions that the form, which was becoming quite popular (particularly memoir) would be little better than a passing fancy.
Derisive articles and opinions about recognizing creative nonfiction as a legitimate term for a genre of writing appeared in the late 1990âs. Vanity Fair, The New York Times, The New Yorker, among others, not only didnât like the term, but expressed opinions that the form, which was becoming quite popular (particularly memoir) would be little better than a passing fancy.
A number of alternative terms were presented, including narrative nonfiction, literary journalism, and expository writing. Lee Gutkind, a Professor in the English Department at the University of Pittsburgh, who has been called "The Godfather" of creative nonfiction, got a good laugh over the resulting confusion when he was spotted at an airport by a woman who pointed at him and remarked, "Hey, it's the uncreative fiction guy!"
A number of alternative terms were presented, including narrative nonfiction, literary journalism, and expository writing. Lee Gutkind, a Professor in the English Department at the University of Pittsburgh, who has been called "The Godfather" of creative nonfiction, got a good laugh over the resulting confusion when he was spotted at an airport by a woman who pointed at him and remarked, "Hey, it's the uncreative fiction guy!"
However, The National Endowment for the Arts has adopted creative nonfiction as accurately describing the various styles that have in common:"factual prose that is also literary " infused with the stylistic devices, tropes, and rhetorical flourishes of the best fiction and the most lyrical of narrative poetry. It is fact-based writing·[that has] foremost a fidelity to accuracy, to truthfulness.
However, The National Endowment for the Arts has adopted creative nonfiction as accurately describing the various styles that have in common:"factual prose that is also literary " infused with the stylistic devices, tropes, and rhetorical flourishes of the best fiction and the most lyrical of narrative poetry. It is fact-based writing·[that has] foremost a fidelity to accuracy, to truthfulness.
"It's very literariness distinguishes this writing from deadline reportage, daily journalism, academic criticism, and critical biography. It is storytelling of a very high order through the revelation of character and the suspense of plot, the subtle braiding of themes, rhythms and resonance, memory and imaginative research, precise and original language·" —from Writing Creative Nonfiction by Carolyn Forche and Philip Gerard
"It's very literariness distinguishes this writing from deadline reportage, daily journalism, academic criticism, and critical biography. It is storytelling of a very high order through the revelation of character and the suspense of plot, the subtle braiding of themes, rhythms and resonance, memory and imaginative research, precise and original language·" —from Writing Creative Nonfiction by Carolyn Forche and Philip Gerard
What Is Creative Nonfiction?
By Maynard Poland
Lee Gutkind, who has been called the Godfather of creative nonfiction, maintains that it is becoming the most important and popular genre in the literary world today. Consider that it includes such books as Seabiscuit, Angela's Ashes, The Professor and the Madman, and such diverse works as Stephen Jay Gould's informative essays, Oliver Sachs' perspectives on Neurology, David McCullough's biographies about Truman and Roosevelt, Colin Powell's autobiography, Tracy Kidder's House, George Plimpton's Paper Lion, Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff and The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test.
But what is creative nonfiction?
As "nonfiction" implies, the information contained in creative nonfiction writing must be true; names, dates, places descriptions, quotation may not be created or altered.
The "creative" aspect of this genre means, "Writers are not constrained by traditional academic or journalistic straightjackets...locked into the inverted 5W (who-what-when-where-why) format." Rather, writers in the genre can write with style without sacrificing substance. They can write real stories rather than file traditional news reports; real stories that are perhaps more true because they include the flaws and warts of the humans they are writing about, utilizing literary techniques such as scene, dialog, description, personal point of view and voice. Thus, Gutkind says, "In this regard, creative nonfiction is as accurate as the most meticulous reportage-perhaps even more accurate because the creative nonfiction writer is expected to dig deeper into a subject, thereby presenting or unearthing a larger truth."
But creative nonfiction cannot take liberties that are blatantly dishonest; there "must be a delicate balance between style and substance." The creative nonfiction writer endeavors "to replicate with truth and accuracy exactly what is believed to have happened, even if, in the real world, there is a possibility that it hasn't happened in exactly the way the writer describes it or if others disagree with the interpretation." In that regard, "...while facts can be checked and confirmed, all truth isn't
verifiable."
Reference: The Art of Creative Nonfiction by Lee Gutkind