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Introduction

Introduction. Contemporary Creative Nonfiction. Thoughts to consider…. The fourth genre The literature of fact Literary nonfiction Often defined by what it’s not: Not poetry Not fiction Not drama But it “borrows” elements from the above…. What’s different?.

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Introduction

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  1. Introduction • Contemporary Creative Nonfiction

  2. Thoughts to consider… • The fourth genre • The literature of fact • Literary nonfiction • Often defined by what it’s not: • Not poetry • Not fiction • Not drama • But it “borrows” elements from the above…

  3. What’s different? • “thesis statements, the objective voice, [and] the absolute absence of the “I”—happily are no longer required of us?” • Question: • What about grammar? • How often and how far can we abandon the conventions of grammar?

  4. “I” • Role of someone “inviting us” into his or her world • Personal essay • Memoir • Dialogue • Meditation / Discursiveness / Observation • Scenes • Consider the conventions, needs, demands of E1 assignment essay

  5. “Eye” • Literary Journalism • Reportage, information, accuracy • Narrative distance from the weight of “I” “It might generally be said that personal creative nonfiction explores personal identity through subjects such as place, politics, and nature…[it] may acknowledge the role of the author as witness and observer, ultimately it stays focused on the world of observation outside the self” (3).

  6. The Idea of Truth • A work of personal creative nonfiction cannot guarantee accuracy—nor does it need to—but it must still, at its core, be emotionally true” (4) • Be HONEST: • With yourself and with your audience… • Write to discover your “unearthing” of the truth, not your “construction” of the truth

  7. The Use of Literary Elements • Narrative and Freedom from Narrative • Feel free to use narrative as you see fit • Remember: the reader is in your world only “provisionally” • Voice • How do you tell your story? • Why does it matter? Why should it matter? • Who cares? • Consider Point-of-View…

  8. Literary Elements, cont’d • Structure around point-of-view: • …In fiction and poetry the “I” is a speaker or a character, not necessarily the author and, indeed, not assumed to be the author. In nonfiction we trust that the “I”—whether the personal “I,” the “I” in the shadows, or the unnamed observer—is the author. We can TRUST that the author is speaking to us, giving us observations, experiences, and memories…

  9. Final Thoughts • “No one is freer than the essayist—free to leap out in any direction, to hop from thought to thought…The marvel is that out of this apparent causelessness, out of this scattering of idiosyncratic seeing and telling, a coherent world is made.” —Cynthia Ozick

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