Understanding Creative NonFiction
Understanding Creative NonFiction
Similar to literary journalism,
creative nonfiction is a branch of writing that employs the literary techniques
usually associated with fiction or poetry to report on actual persons, places,
or events.
The genre of
creative nonfiction (also known as literary nonfiction)
is broad enough to include travel
writing, nature writing, science
writing, sports writing, biography, autobiography, memoir,
the interview,
and both the familiar and personal essay.
Examples of
Creative Nonfiction
- "Coney Island at Night," by James
Huneker
- "An Experiment in Misery," by Stephen
Crane
- "In Mammoth Cave," by John Burroughs
- "Outcasts in Salt Lake City," by James
Weldon Johnson
- "Rural Hours," by Susan Fenimore Cooper
- "The San Francisco Earthquake," by Jack
London
- "The Watercress Girl," by Henry Mayhew
Observations
- "Creative nonfiction .
. . is fact-based writing that remains compelling, undiminished by the
passage of time, that has at heart an interest in enduring human values:
foremost a fidelity to accuracy, to truthfulness."
Creative
Nonfiction (CNF) has been one of the hottest and most expansive literary genres
since the mid-90s, but many still fail to understand the concept of the genre.
As a genre that tells truthful stories in an artful and engaging way, there can
be roadblocks to the genre’s validity when it comes to the use of creative
liberty.
How
has the mainstream introduction of CNF altered the way we read and trust our
authors? How can CNF be directed within the periphery of the public mainstream
in a way that credits the genre with more than just memoir? Additionally, how
do we deal with the ethical dilemmas that creative liberties create within the
genre?
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