Intimate Journalism ed. Walt Harrington Literary Journalism eds. Norman Sims and Mark Kramer
Course Description
This course will introduce you to the reading and writing of literary journalism, a genre of nonfiction prose that combines the methods of immersion reporting with the techniques of fiction writing to make more meaningful its account of the facts. Like newspaper writing, literary journalism values thorough, credible research and the accurate representation of events. However, while daily news articles most often aim to give straightforward, unbiased facts and analysis, literary journalists write by establishing intimate contact with their subjects and developing, in the process of writing, a narrative voice that expresses personal emotions and perspectives. In this way, literary journalism can pursue a different kind of understanding of the very same events, places and people that conventional journalism also reports on.
Creative nonfiction prose has a long history: from the Greek historian Thucydides’s representation of the Peloponnesian War, to Daniel Defoe’s 18th century account of the black plague, and to more recent works in the United States, such as the journalistic narratives of Mark Twain, Stephen Crane, W.E.B. DuBois, and Ernest Hemingway. In the 1960s, intimate, nonfiction prose became a recognizable genre known as “New Journalism.” Pioneers of New Journalism include such now-famous writers as Tom Wolfe, Joan Didion, John McPhee, and Gay Talese. As the articles in our course books indicate, literary journalism can be found today in popular periodicals like Harper’s, The New Yorker and Esquire, as well as in many major newspapers and online magazines.
Each week, we will discuss exemplary pieces of literary journalism in order to understand and eventually practice the research techniques and literary devices that go into making them great. During discussion, we will examine the reporting methods and elements of craft that writers have at their disposal, while also considering the implications of “intimate contact.” For the end of the quarter, you will produce your own work of literary journalism on a subject of your choosing. The two main goals for this class are 1) to examine how literary journalism represents life experiencesand 2) to determine how you can contribute your interests and writing style to the field of literary journalism.
Course Policies and Procedures Requirements & Grading:
In-class work and Participation: 15% Reading Responses/Research Logs: 20% Article analysis: 20% Character sketch: 5% Presentation: 10% Profile: 30%
Class Participation: Much of our class time will be spent closely reading and critically analyzing the articles. Please be prepared to participate in each class meeting and bring the books as well as any other assigned reading material to class. You are expected to take an active role in class discussions, small group activities and peer-review sessions. Laptop computers, tablets, and cell phones are not allowed in class, so please have hard copies of the assigned readings.
Additionally, there will be periodic quizzes on the reading and short writing assignments or other exercises in class.
Weekly Reading Responses and Research Logs Reading responses are not formal essays, but rather your own reflections. You should use them as a space to think critically about the rhetorical choices that writers of creative nonfiction make and how those choices affect meaning. These will give you something to look over when it comes to essay time, as well as giving you some thoughts to express in discussion. 1 page (double-spaced; 300-400 words). Responses should be posted on the EEE noteboard each week by 5pm on Monday. Please bring your responses to class. In some cases you will be given specific assignments for your weekly reading response.
Beginning the second half of the quarter, you will submit weekly updates to the class MessageBoard on your research and progress for your final story. More details on this when the time comes.
Article Analysis
For this assignment, you will read through the midterm article options that I have put on our course website and choose one article from this list that you find interesting and rich for analysis. Your assignment is to select one passage of the article, such as a particular scene (~1 page), and to analyze its style and significance for the article as a whole (4-5 pages). You must print out and hand in your chosen passage with the draft of your article analysis.
Character Sketch
By the end of week four, you will turn in a character sketch on a person of your choosing. You may not write on someone whom you already know well. A character sketch is a brief composition that introduces the reader to the most interesting and most essential characteristics of a person. Do not give an overview of this person’s life—rather, you should focus on conveying a key feature of your subject’s personality. What makes this person unique? What makes this person a complex individual? For this assignment, you will be limited to ~2 ½ pp.
Presentation
Before you begin writing your final project, you will present a proposal of your project to the class. In your proposal, you will describe your subject matter and explain why it holds interest; discuss your planned schedule for reporting, observation and research; and finally, explain the direction you want your project to take. In short, this assignment is your “pitch”: your job is to convince us that your project is worthwhile and that you are the right person to write it. A successful presentation requires that you do some reporting and research beforehand. Come prepared to answer questions, as your classmates will help provide feedback on your proposal. The presentation will be evaluated on its organization, clarity, specificity, and its ability to engage the class.
Profile
Choose a person, place or thing that you believe is interesting and then report on significant moments that arise during your period of observation. You must craft a vivid narrative for your reader; this means you should compose an article that includes detailed, sensory description as well as scenes, action and/or dialogue. Your article must convince the reader that your selected subject is worthy of interest. You will be handing in endnotes with your final story (more on this later).
Add/Drop Policy: In accordance with School of Humanities policies, a student may drop or add this course until the end of the second week of the quarter. To add or drop, you must obtain a code from the instructor. It is your responsibility to drop a course; all schedule changes must be initiated by students. If you stop coming to class but do not remove your name from the roster, you could receive an F on your transcript. Drops after the second week will need to be approved by the associate dean, and those approvals are granted only in the case of serious illness or an emergency. Students will be allowed to add this course up to the third week, if there is a space available.
Second-day Rule: This course requires that a student enrolled be present at the second meeting. If you are not there the first or second day of the course and do not have a medical excuse, your seat will be given to someone else.
Academic Honesty & Plagiarism: All students are responsible for reading the UCI Academic Honesty Policy. If you have specific questions about what constitutes plagiarism, please ask. Any form of plagiarism is grounds for failure in the course and potential dismissal from the university. Please turn in all final drafts to Turnitin.com.
Attendance Policy: Attendance is absolutely required for individual and collective success in the class. The attendance policy for this course is simple: after two absences, your total final grade will be lowered one grade increment for each additional absence, i.e. a B becomes a B-. Missing four or more classes is grounds for failure in the course.