Creative nonfiction (also known as literary or narrative nonfiction) is a genre of writing which uses literary styles and techniques to create factually accurate narratives. Journalism is the profession of writing or communicating formally employed by publications and broadcasters for the benefit of a particular Community of people Professional journalism is a form of news reporting which developed in the United States at the beginning of the 20th century along with formal schools of journalism News is any new information or information on Current events which is presented by print, broadcast, Internet, or Word of mouth Reportage sometimes refers to the total body of media coverage of a particular topic or event including news reporting and analysis " the extensive reportage of recent News style (also journalistic style or news writing) is the particular Prose style used for News reporting (ie Journalism ethics and standards comprise principles of Ethics and of good practice as applicable to the specific challenges faced by professional Journalists Historically Objectivity is a significant principle of Journalistic professionalism. News values, sometimes called "news criteria" determine how much prominence a news story is given by a media outlet and the attention it is given by the audience In Journalism, a source is a person publication or other record or document that gives information Editorial independence is the freedom of editors to make decisions without interference from the owners of a publication A journalism school is a School or department usually part of an established University, where Journalists are trained List of Journalism topics This page aims to list all topics related to the field of Journalism. Arts journalism is a branch of Journalism concerned with the reporting and discussion of the arts Business journalism is the branch of journalism that tracks records analyses and interprets the economic changes that take place in a society Entertainment journalism is an umbrella term used to describe all forms of Journalism that focus on the Entertainment business and its products Environmental journalism is the collection verification production distribution and exhibition of information regarding current events trends issues and people that are associated Fashion journalism is an umbrella term used to describe all aspects of published Fashion media Political journalism is a broad branch of Journalism that includes coverage of all aspects of Politics and Political science, although the term usually Science journalism is a relatively new branch of Journalism, which uses the art of Reporting to convey information about Science topics to a public forum Sports journalism is a form of Journalism that reports on Sports topics and events While the sports department within some Newspapers has been Tech journalism is a relatively new branch of Journalism, which uses the art of Reporting to convey information about Tech topics to a public forum Trade journalism reports on the movements and developments of the Business world by way of articles or analysis A traffic report is an element of a Radio program or TV news broadcast that informs listeners about general traffic conditions Weather forecasting is the application of science and technology to predict the state of the atmosphere for a future time and a given location Advocacy journalism is a Genre of Journalism that intentionally and transparently adopts a non-objective viewpoint usually for some social Citizen journalism, also known as public or participatory journalism or democratic journalism, is the act of citizens "playing an active role in the The civic journalism movement (also known as public journalism is according to professor David K Community journalism is locally oriented coverage that typically focuses on city neighborhoods or individual suburbs rather than metropolitan state national or world news "Gonzo" redirects here For other uses see Gonzo (disambiguation Gonzo journalism is a style of Journalism which is written Investigative journalism is a type of reporting in which reporters deeply investigate a topic of interest often involving crime Political corruption, or some other Scandal Docufiction (often understood as Docudrama) is a Neologism which refers to a cinematographic work in a Genre mixing Fiction and Narrative journalism is the interpretation of a story and the way in which the journalist portrays it be it fictional or non-fictional New Journalism was a style of 1960s and 1970s News writing and Journalism which used literary techniques deemed unconventional at the time Opinion journalism is Journalism that makes no claim of objectivity. Visual journalism is the practice of strategically combining words and images to convey information Watchdog journalism refers to forms of Activist journalism aimed at holding accountable public personalities and institutions whose functions impact social and political life The term Fourth Estate refers to the press, both in its explicit capacity of advocacy and in its implicit ability to frame political issues Fifth Estate is any class or group in society other than the Clergy ( First Estate) the Nobility ( Second Estate) the Commoners ( Freedom Constitutional or statutory protections pertaining to freedom of the press Infotainment (a Portmanteau of information and entertainment refers to a general type of media broadcast program which provides a combination of current Media bias in the United States News propaganda is Covert Propaganda packaged as credible News without transparency as to source and motivation Public relations (PR is the practice of managing the flow of Information between an Organization and its Publics Public relations - often referred Yellow journalism is Journalism that downplays legitimate news in favor of eye-catching headlines that sell more newspapers The news media refers to the section of the Mass media that focuses on presenting current News to the public A newspaper is a written Publication containing News, information and Advertising, usually printed on low-cost paper called Newsprint. Magazines, periodicals or serials are Publications generally published on a regular schedule containing a variety of articles, generally News agency (alternative A news agency is an organization of Journalists established to supply News reports to organizations in the News trade Broadcast journalism is the field of news and journals which are "broadcast" that is published by electrical methods instead of the older methods such as printed newspapers Online journalism is defined as the Reporting of facts produced and distributed via the Internet. Photojournalism is a particular form of Journalism (the collecting editing and presenting of news material for publication or broadcast that creates images in order to tell Alternative media are media (newspapers radio television movies Internet etc A journalist (also called a newspaperman) is a person who practices Journalism, the gathering and dissemination of information about current events trends A reporter is a type of Journalist who Researches and presents information in certain types of Mass media. Editing Language, Images or Sound through correction condensation organization and other modifications in various media A columnist is a Journalist who writes material on a regular basis for publication in a series A photographer is a person who takes a Photograph using a Camera. Meteorology (from Greek grc μετέωρος metéōros, "high in the sky" and grc -λογία -logia) is the Interdisciplinary 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. Non-fiction is an account or representation of a subject which is presented as Fact. Technical writing, a form of Technical communication, is a style of formal writing used in fields as diverse as Computer Hardware and Software Journalism is the profession of writing or communicating formally employed by publications and broadcasters for the benefit of a particular Community of people As a genre, creative nonfiction is still relatively young, and is only beginning to be scrutinized with the same critical analysis given to fiction and poetry. A genre (ˈʒɑːnrə also /ˈdʒɑːnrə/ from French "kind" or "sort" from Latin: genus (stem gener-) is a loose set Fiction is the telling of stories which are not real More specifically fiction is an imaginative form of Narrative, one of the four basic Rhetorical modes.
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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 and technique. Writing style is the manner in which a writer addresses a matter in prose a manner which reveals the writer's personality or 'voice “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, memoir, travel writing, food writing, biography, literary journalism, and other hybridized essays. An essay is usually a short piece of writing It is often written from an author's personal point of view. for other uses see Memoir (disambiguation As a literary Genre, a memoir (from the French: mémoire Travel writing is a broad category of Writing concerned with various aspects of Travel. A list of some prominent writers on Food, Cooking, dining, and cultural history related to food A biography (from the Greek words bíos (βίος meaning "life" and gráphein (γράφειν meaning "to write" is an account Docufiction (often understood as Docudrama) is a Neologism which refers to a cinematographic work in a Genre mixing Fiction and 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 the writer “novel perspectives on their subjects” and “it 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's story of love and loss, "Geography of the Heart," and Virginia Holman's "Rescuing Patty Hearst. John Fenton Johnson was born ninth of nine children into a Kentucky whiskey-making family with a strong storytelling tradition " 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's hypnotic tour of Atlantic City, "In Search of Marvin Gardens. Natalia Ginzburg née Levi ( July 14, 1916, Palermo &mdash October 7, 1991, Rome) was an Italian author John Angus McPhee (born March 8, 1931) is a Pulitzer Prize -winning writer widely considered one of the pioneers of narrative nonfiction "
Ethics
In recent years, several well-publicized incidents within the United States have called into question the truthfulness and factual standards of creative nonfiction. Given its different styles and characteristics, it is not held to the same journalistic ethics and standards as direct reporting or news publications. Its allowances of artistic license to authors are not standardized, and some have accused writers of glorification of interpretation, and even of fabrication. A recent example of these incidents is the James Frey controversy in regards to his memoir A Million Little Pieces, published in 2003. James Christopher Frey (born September 12, 1969 in Cleveland Ohio) is an American Writer. A Million Little Pieces is a controversial Memoir by James Frey. In his memoir, Frey claimed to certain experiences, which were revealed in 2006 to be fabrications. [7]
Literary criticism
To date, there is very little published literary criticism of nonfiction works, despite the fact that the genre is often published in respected publications such as "The New Yorker", "Vanity Fair", and others. Literary criticism is the study discussion evaluation and interpretation of Literature. A handful of the most widely recognized writers in the genre such as Gay Talese, Tom Wolfe, John McPhee, Joan Didion and Norman Mailer, have seen some criticism on their more prominent works. Gay Talese (born February 7 1932) is an American author He wrote for The New York Times in the early 1960s and helped to define literary journalism Thomas Kennerly Wolfe Jr (born March 2, 1931 in Richmond, Virginia) known as Tom Wolfe, is a Best-selling John Angus McPhee (born March 8, 1931) is a Pulitzer Prize -winning writer widely considered one of the pioneers of narrative nonfiction Joan Didion (born December 5, 1934) is an American Journalist, Essayist and Novelist Didion contributes regularly to Norman Kingsley Mailer ( January 31, 1923 &ndash November 10, 2007) was an American Novelist, Journalist, “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 few analyses of these few 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 Formalist and New Critical), historical, biographical, cultural, structuralist and deconstructionist, reader-response and feminist. New Criticism was a dominant trend in English and American Literary criticism of the mid twentieth century from the 1920s to the early 1960s For the use of structuralism in biology see Structuralism (biology Structuralism is an approach to the human sciences that attempts to analyze Deconstruction is a term used in Philosophy, Literary criticism, and the Social sciences, popularised through its usage by Jacques Derrida in Feminism is a discourse that involves various movements theories, and Philosophies which are concerned with the issue of Gender difference, advocate ” [8]
“Nonfiction is no longer the bastard child, the second class citizen; literature is no longer reified, mystified, unavailable. Literature is the Art of written works Literally translated the word means "acquaintance with letters" (from Latin littera letter 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, 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. "Best-Selling Memoir Draws Scrutiny", The New York Times, 2006-01-10. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 49 BC - Julius Caesar crosses the Rubicon, signaling the start of civil war. Retrieved on 2008-01-24. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 41 - Gaius Caesar (Caligula, known for his eccentricity and cruel Despotism, is Assassinated by his disgruntled
- ^ 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
- Bruce Dobler's Creative Nonfiction Compendium, Bruce Dobler, University of Pittsburgh
- Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction, Canada
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
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