English 2783
The Art of Fact: Contemporary Literary Journalism
Prompt # 17
6 November 2013

A couple of hours in the basement

Finding pieces of literary journalism to read

As we've said a number of times, one of the important characteristics of literary journalism has to do with the way it's published and read -- where it's mostly published, and how readers find it (and how they're attracted to it). Unlike history, say, or biography, it's not usual for someone to read it because they want to find out about a subject: unlike fiction, it's much less likely to be read in book form by someone who is looking for another book by a particular writer. More than either, it's likely to be published in a venue where a reader simply stumbles on it. Maybe she knows the writer's work, maybe the subject interests her; equally likely, the first paragraph or so will hook her.

Having spent some time evolving an idea of what this genre is like, I think it's time to have that experience and reflect on it. Here's how I propose we do it.

There are a number of periodicals which regularly publish this sort of work, but one stands out -- and not entirely coincidentally, is also actually available in hard copy. The New Yorker is the magazine most literary journalists (and most short story writers, for that matter) dream of being published in. Its editorial standards are peerless, its editors among the best in the world, it has traditionally paid as well as any magazine, and it's read by exactly the kinds of readers most literary journalists are writing for. And there are a whole lot of issues of the magazine in the library.

Many of them have gone to storage (shrink-wrapped in a basement in Newfoundland, an unreliable rumour has it), but in the basement stacks, under call letters AP2.N6763, there are bound volumes of the magazine running from 1995 to nearly the present. To avoid duplication, I'm assigning each member of the class at random one year's worth of the magazine (as you'll see, that's usually four large volumes: the magazine, unlike almost any others, is a weekly). What you should do is go down to the basement, take a volume from your year to a table, and leaf through it skimming through articles and looking for something that looks like a substantial piece of literary journalism (you'll notice that there are usually short items in the "Talk of the Town" section which are something a lot like literary journalism -- "sketches," perhaps -- but avoid those in favor of more ambitious work.

When you find something -- when you're pretty sure it's a piece of literary nonfiction you're going to enjoy reading -- read it. Photocopy it if that's easier; if you'd like to read it online, email me and say exactly what it is -- author, title, date, pages -- and I'll arrange to make it available electronically (remember that that might take a day, depending on when I get your email).

And then report on it to the rest of us.

When you report on it, give us as full a description of it as you can: aim for 750-1000 words. Tell us what it's "about," how it's organized, what it sounds like (quote from it). And describe how the writer begins and ends it, and what she does to snag us at the beginning and keep us reading. Head your report with the full citation -- author, title, date, pages. And post your report in the "finding literary nonfiction" forum. Post it in time for people to read it before class on Monday, November 18 -- in other words, post it before Thursday night, November 14.

Here's the random list of who should look in which year:

Chris Brooks: 2009
Bryson Foster: 1997
Ryan Nowlan: 2001
Brady Hanson: 2000
Catherine Theriault: 1998 		Brenden Roach: 1999
Cherise Letson: 2010
Karo Comeau: 2002
Tamara Gravelle: 2005
Nicola MacLeod: 2007


Before class on the 18th, read and post a reflection on all the reports posted by Friday morning. We'll discuss the whole experience -- including your impressions of what it's like to encounter The New Yorker in print, if you haven't before -- on Monday night.
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