Creative Nonfiction, Assignment # 1:
List the features of creative nonfiction gleaned from the
first four readings:
From the notes I compiled, below, coupled with my own
notions of what creative nonfiction is, the essential features of CNF appear to
be:
·
Subjective self-appraisal
·
Dealing with the alienation we necessarily feel
as part of the community while also being unique individuals—coping strategies
for being out of sync with our surroundings
·
Dealing with crisis
·
Tension between how we perceive ourselves and
how others perceive us
·
Contrast between subjective and objective
·
Active participation in our own experience
·
Interest in typical literary concerns of clever
use of language, figures of speech, allusions
·
Self-reliance
·
Understanding where, how and whether we “fit in”
·
Writing as a way to come to grip with ones
insecurities and limitations.
1.
“Out There,” Jo Ann Beard
a.
The author is in crisis
i.
Splitting from her husband
ii.
Physical difficulties of travel—old car; hot
weather
iii.
Rebels by disregarding societies conventions—no bra
with shirt gaping open (Who cares, she says)
b.
Tension between the author’s view of herself and
the way the world sees her
i.
Husband sees her as unattractive
c.
Attempting to function as an alien in a hostile
environment
d.
In the midst of a long-term crisis—splitting with
husband—she experiences an immediate threat—what doctors might call a chronic
problem versus an acute problem—divorce versus being stalked with rape and
murder real possibilities
e.
Not paranoia when someone is really trying to
get you
f.
Husband’s lack of concern, lack of sympathy and
lack of empathy for a moment of crisis in her life
The world is a cruel, lonely place—the
threats are real and the only one to be relied upon is oneself
2.
“Some Things About the Day,” Debra Marquart
a.
Author immediately introduces a sense of threat,
of danger, of alienation: Are we in a mental hospital? No, an abortion clinic.
b.
It is obvious before it is made explicit that
this is an abortion
c.
Treated brusquely and impersonally
d.
6th paragraph—using key words only: …husband…pregnant...is
it mine?…” Shockingly quick changes of emotions: If she has a husband, why is she getting an
abortion? Answered by “Is it mine? Leading to “so that is how it is with these
two”—skillful, insightful, clever example of “show/don’t tell”
e.
Husband’s lack of support—again, the feeling of
being alone in a hostile environment without traditional support mechanisms
f.
“you had a procedure”=euphemisms are inadequate
g.
“a room of sleeping beauties” evokes a fairy
tale—but this one is a nightmare
h.
“my car started just fine…” as if she has an
expectation that the world would be as out of kilter as she is, and is
surprised at normalcy
i.
“what a brave girl I have been.” How one would
speak to a child—resonating with the fairy tale allusion
j.
The pharmacist is kind, in contrast to the condescending,
patronizing and unsympathetic attitude of her husband—depending upon the
kindness of strangers as in a Williams play
3.
“Portrait of my Body,” Phillip Lopate
a.
Evokes Dostoyevsky’s Underground Man—the unreliable,
highly self-critical, contradictory narrator
b.
Immediate suggestion of alienation
c.
Clinical self-appraisal (but is it accurate?)
d.
Interactions with others are strange, but
clinically appraised
e.
“because we are all in the same comedy together”—if
it is the same play, we are all quite different characters
f.
Appearance versus reality
g.
“a cultivated man who is often embarrassed for others”: strange use of “embarrassed” and
the second time the word is used—usually we are embarrassed by others
h.
Use of “for all the world” as both a figure of
speech and as a literal statement of being seen by the world
i.
“I…cut a fairly impressive, elevated figure…” is
his subjective appraisal of how the world objectively sees him
j.
Nice turn of phrase: “the more life’s setbacks
make you inclined to fill the hollowness of disappointment with the pleasures
of the table.”
k.
Similarly, nice double meaning of the word “dull”
as uninteresting and as the quality of the ache of a low back—literary quality
l.
Double meaning of the word “asses”—derrieres and
pompous fools—literary quality
m.
Talking about Kennedy in a motorcade inevitable
evokes the Zapruder death film, but here it refers to Kennedy in life—literary quality
n.
As much as describes his strangeness, he is
reaching out to our shared sense of community
o.
His back and his toes are both strangers to him
p.
Insightfully writing universally of every man’s
anxieties relating to his own penis
So what have we got? A self-aware contradictory assessment of an
attractive man who tilts—others admire him, but he has his doubts.
4.
“I Think I am Musing My Mind,” Roger Ebert
Here is
a story of a different sort than the other three. Personally, I had long watched Siskel and
Ebert—one now dead; the other muted by a stroke. The story resonated with me, because writing
is a way to come to grip with ones insecurities and limitations. Like a deaf person with acute vision, or a
blind person with enhanced hearing, Ebert finds that being unable to
communicate—speak, has made him better able to communicate—write. Ebert’s ability to cope in a world that has
suddenly become “different” from what it was is similar to Lopate’s clinical
appraisal of his body—both focus on both the strangeness and the advantages.
The commonality between these
stories is the authors’ shifting between their own perception of events and
self, with how others appear to be
perceiving the authors and the events. I
stress “appear to be…” because the stories are subjective, even when the author
is talking about others.
A second commonality is the sense
of alienation—of being alone in a hostile world. Even Roger Ebert, who is writing more
self-consciously about the act of writing (although they all seem to suggest
that the act of writing itself is part of their virtue), suggest an alienation
from the world that caused him to write more deeply.
There is a disconnect between how
these people see themselves in the world and how the world sees them, or so
they each think.
All four stories suggest a feeling
of alienation—of being out of sync with the surroundings.
The first three contrast the
subjective with the objective.
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