E 314J #33560 Literature & Journalism (Spring '09)
E314J #33560 - Literature and Journalism (Spring '09)
Nate Kreuter, Instructor (nathankreuter@gmail.com)
When Tom Wolfe’s novel "A Man in Full" was published in 1999, fiction writer John Irving described Wolfe's novels as "yak" and "journalistic hyperbole described as fiction.” Irving continued, saying of Wolfe, “He's a journalist ... he can't create a character. He can't create a situation." Early in Wolfe’s journalism career he was criticized for “fictionalizing” his work, not for fabricating news, but for bringing narrative and other writing techniques traditionally reserved for fiction to journalism. This E314J section, Literature and Journalism, will explore the troubled relationship between literature and journalism, and particularly between “high” literature and the so-called New Journalism, which has been condemned by journalists and fiction writers alike, albeit for different reasons.
Some of the questions this course will persistently explore include: what is fiction?; what is journalism?; where do the two cross or become enmeshed?; what are the stakes in the conflict between “high” literary authors like Irving and Updike and journalistic writers like Wolfe? In our pursuit of these questions, and others, we will read both fiction and some non-fiction written by literary writers and journalists, as well as a variety of critical articles. This course should be of interest not only to English majors, but also to journalism majors interested in exploring the outer boundaries of their field and any other students interested in the gray area between fact and fiction.
Required Texts:
-A Man in Full, by Tom Wolfe
-Hell's Angels, by Hunter S. Thompson
-Play It As It Lays, by Joan Didion
-Generation Kill, by Evan Wright
-The Collected Works of Billy The Kid, by Michael Ondaatje
-Course Packet
The five books listed are required and are available from the Co-Op. They may also be ordered online or found at used books stores for even cheaper. You are required to have the books in your possession in time to complete the respective assigned readings. The course packet is listed under my name (Nate Kreuter) and is available at Speedway in Dobie Mall. The course packet is required and is non-returnable in the event that you decide to drop the course.
We will constantly strive to improve our writing in this course, as well as working to reduce the anxiety that writing often creates in students--so that you all feel like this, and not like this.
