Creative nonfiction is coming of age, not simply as opposed to ficdon, but as respectable as good ficdon true to its name. Due attention should be drawn to this super-genre absorbing varied subject matter. This paper ...Creative nonfiction is coming of age, not simply as opposed to ficdon, but as respectable as good ficdon true to its name. Due attention should be drawn to this super-genre absorbing varied subject matter. This paper looks into creative nonfiction as a form of art with a let-its-hair-down attitude generally in line with the genre. Creative nonfiction is held to be a paradoxically generic term covering subcategories such as memoir, biography, autobiography, history, and journalism. Instead of being walled off from one another, these subcategories mix and match to build up a work of truth, or rather elusive truth, which might sound stranger than fiction. In addition to the imaginative mix and match to open up new possibilities for writing, felicity of style is another add-on to doing it well. Hence creative nonfiction is conceived as an adventure to wrap up a somewhat strange story in a serendipitous form as well as a felicitous language. Hopefully, this three- quarter profile of the genre will be able to offer a thin slice of the picture to the audience.展开更多
This article relates and reflects on my teaching experience spanning from spring 2009 through spring 2013, when I was engaged in constructing and reconstructing a course called ＂Reading Bestsellers.＂ Principles were...This article relates and reflects on my teaching experience spanning from spring 2009 through spring 2013, when I was engaged in constructing and reconstructing a course called ＂Reading Bestsellers.＂ Principles were altered for the course design virtually each semester, starting from an attempt to offer variety in readings, undergoing a plan to downsize the reading list for neatness, and then a challenge to seek a balance between fiction and nonfiction. Despite the change of the principles, one principle has remained unchanged-the overarching principle of trial and error. Given this general guidance, I have reconstructed the course with a choice of high-end bestsellers. I have become aware that there should have been less concern about the boundaries between fiction and nonfiction than about the need to defy narrow categorization whenever necessary. Academic neatness may be desirable but impossible to tackle in-between intricacy, which proves to be the essence of life, and for that matter, the very essence of literature.展开更多
文摘Creative nonfiction is coming of age, not simply as opposed to ficdon, but as respectable as good ficdon true to its name. Due attention should be drawn to this super-genre absorbing varied subject matter. This paper looks into creative nonfiction as a form of art with a let-its-hair-down attitude generally in line with the genre. Creative nonfiction is held to be a paradoxically generic term covering subcategories such as memoir, biography, autobiography, history, and journalism. Instead of being walled off from one another, these subcategories mix and match to build up a work of truth, or rather elusive truth, which might sound stranger than fiction. In addition to the imaginative mix and match to open up new possibilities for writing, felicity of style is another add-on to doing it well. Hence creative nonfiction is conceived as an adventure to wrap up a somewhat strange story in a serendipitous form as well as a felicitous language. Hopefully, this three- quarter profile of the genre will be able to offer a thin slice of the picture to the audience.
文摘This article relates and reflects on my teaching experience spanning from spring 2009 through spring 2013, when I was engaged in constructing and reconstructing a course called ＂Reading Bestsellers.＂ Principles were altered for the course design virtually each semester, starting from an attempt to offer variety in readings, undergoing a plan to downsize the reading list for neatness, and then a challenge to seek a balance between fiction and nonfiction. Despite the change of the principles, one principle has remained unchanged-the overarching principle of trial and error. Given this general guidance, I have reconstructed the course with a choice of high-end bestsellers. I have become aware that there should have been less concern about the boundaries between fiction and nonfiction than about the need to defy narrow categorization whenever necessary. Academic neatness may be desirable but impossible to tackle in-between intricacy, which proves to be the essence of life, and for that matter, the very essence of literature.
