The fine art of literary fist-fighting : how a bunch of rabble-rousers, outsiders, and ne'er-do-wells concocted creative nonfiction / Lee Gutkind.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gutkind, Lee, author.

Contributor:

Rosengarten Family Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Creative nonfiction--History and criticism.

Creative nonfiction.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Literary criticism.

Physical Description:

ix, 292 pages ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

New Haven ; London : Yale University Press, [2024]

Summary:

"In the 1970s, Lee Gutkind, a leather-clad hippie motorcyclist and former public relations writer, fought his way into the academy. Then he took on his colleagues. His goal: to make creative nonfiction an accepted academic discipline, one as vital as poetry, drama, and fiction. In this book Gutkind tells the true story of how creative nonfiction became a leading genre for both readers and writers. Creative nonfiction--true stories enriched by relevant ideas, insights, and intimacies--offered liberation to writers, allowing them to push their work in freewheeling directions. The genre also opened doors to outsiders--doctors, lawyers, construction workers--who felt they had stories to tell about their lives and experiences. Gutkind documents the evolution of the genre, discussing the lives and work of such practitioners as Joan Didion, Tom Wolfe, Norman Mailer, James Baldwin, Zora Neale Hurston, Rachel Carson, Upton Sinclair, Janet Malcolm, and Vivian Gornick. Gutkind also highlights the ethics of writing creative nonfiction, including how writers handle the distinctions between fact and fiction. Gutkind's book narrates the story not just of a genre but of the person who brought it to the forefront of the literary and journalistic world"-- Provided by publisher..

Contents:

Introduction

Part 1. Who made this name up?

The changemakers

The first creative nonfictionists

A statue of a woman in the Pittsburgh airport and all she represents

What white publishers won't print

F*** the establishment

The imperfect primer

Part 2. The shoe dog goes to college

A mentor, a mountain man, and the beginning of the writing life

Innocent victims

Manipulating material

and the people you are writing about

A larger reality? Or the untrue truth?

Dissing the memoir

Part 3. After all, gentlemen, we are interested in literature here

not writing

Bricks, underwear, fake vomit

and a Guinness world record

Writers invading the academy

Drama and trauma

Mud and coconuts

Part 4. How creative nonfiction became creative nonfiction

The first issue: a dining room disaster

Do poets write prose?

The first creative nonfiction conference

and George Plimpton's revenge

The business of art? Or the art of doing the art business

The last creative nonfiction "fist-fight"

Epilogue.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Rosengarten Family Fund.

Other Format:

Online version: Gutkind, Lee. Fine art of literary fist-fighting.

ISBN:

9780300251159

0300251157

OCLC:

1375544357