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Alive in the writing : crafting ethnography in the company of Chekhov / Kirin Narayan.
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Narayan, Kirin.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Chekhov, Anton Pavlovich, 1860-1904.
- Ethnology--Authorship.
- Ethnology.
- Creative nonfiction--Authorship.
- Creative nonfiction.
- Chekhov, Anton Pavlovich, 1860-1904--Criticism and interpretation.
- Chekhov, Anton Pavlovich.
- Ethnology in literature.
- Criticism and interpretation.
- Authorship.
- Local Subjects:
- Chekhov, Anton Pavlovich, 1860-1904.
- Physical Description:
- xiii, 154 pages ; 22 cm
- Place of Publication:
- Chicago : University of Chicago Press, [2012]
- Summary:
- When Kirin Narayan began work on a book on ethnographic writing, she did not anticipate turning to Anton Chekhov for inspiration. But after a friend gave her a few pages from Chekhov's nonfiction book Sakhalin Island, she became fascinated by his skill at portraying real lives. She set off to learn how Chekhov's work and his pithy, witty observations on the writing process could speak to ethnographers and other nonfiction writers. Alive in the Writing shows us how. Weaving together selections from writing by and about Chekhov with examples from other talented ethnographers and memoirists, Narayan explores the ethnographic process in an intriguing hybrid of writing guide, biography, and literary analysis. Providing practical advice and exercises and powerful models she shows how ethnography's attentive, sustained connection with the lives of others can become a powerful tool for any writer. Book jacket.
- Contents:
- Story and theory. Taking stock: parts and wholes ; Looking back: the power of first impressions ; Scenes, summaries, events ; Situation, story, theory ; Chekhov as ethnographic muse
- Place. The place of writing ; Passage to more than a place ; The feel of a place ; Others' perceptions ; Landscapes transformed ; Wide angles and close-ups ; Painful places ; The meeting place of texts
- Person. Types and individuals ; The embodied person ; Lives told by things ; Inner biography ; Nonhuman persons ; Imagining across time
- Voice. How voices sound ; Key words, key concepts ; Transcribing conversation and performance ; Quotation and paraphrase ; Pauses, guarded words, words in veiled forms ; Cultivating your own voice
- Self. Narrating ; Explaining ; Evoking ; Transforming ; Reframing ; Connecting ; Postscript writing to be alive
- Using this book
- Further inspiration: helpful books on writing.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- Local Notes:
- Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Charles Wendell David Library Fund.
- ISBN:
- 9780226568188
- 0226568180
- 9780226568195
- 0226568199
- OCLC:
- 729863295
- Publisher Number:
- 7312395
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