a metaphor for the world… Friday, Aug 7 2009 

WEEK 1 stefanie 10:00 am

This journal article titled ‘A metaphor for the world: William Langwiesche, John Vaillant and looking for the story in long-form’, was an interesting comparison between two writers and their methods. It discussed aspects of their writing that makes their literary journalism features so compelling and well-regarded. The two literary journalism narratives in question were:

  • William Langewiesche’s ‘American Ground’ – This story centers on the aftermath of the 2001 terrorist attacks on Manhattan, detroying the Twin Towers and many lives. It follows the group of men who have the task of removing debris from the former World Trade Center site.
  • John Vaillant’s ‘The Golden Spruce’ – This story is a profile of an eco-radical named Grant Hadwin who cut down a one-in-a-billion giant Sitka spruce tree, to protest againt a logging company’s clear-cut practices in British Columbia.

Both of these stories are about straight-forward situations and events. In long-form narrative however, the story is rarely simply about the story – the story stands as a metaphor for something much deeper. The American Ground, has a deeper meaning of how a democratic society forms out of the ruins, the story mirroring America’s shifting global stature. The Golden Spruce, also contains a deeper meaning  of the relationship between human’s and the planet.

These bigger meanings behind the superficial plot line of the narrative are not created at the inception of the story idea. It often evolves during the researching and writing process. Interview subjects may say something of grand significance, or looking at a scene may suddenly have a different significance, so these aspects can take a story to another dimension. Metaphors often play a huge part is this style of writing and aid in the creative aspect of the literary style.

The article was interesting to read and was set out in a manner which made it easy to process the information. The comparisons between the two features allowed me to understand different aspects of the literary features and how they aided in the overal impact of the feature.

I learnt from this reading that it is ok to not know from the beggining exactly how your feature will evolve, that as you continue to write, you begin to understand the depth of your writing and your literary style reveals itself.

I also learnt about the techniques that form a part of the best long-form writings, which are; scenes, details, point of view and dialogue. The reading has been helpful during the research process of my own literary feature as i have utilised techniques outlined and kept these in mind when deciding on the format of my own feature. I found an interesting quote within the conclusion paragraph of the reading, by Walt Harrington, who said:

“Always remember – scene, detail and narrative bring story to life, while theme and meaning imbue it with a soul.”

 

style & soul… Friday, Aug 7 2009 

WEEK 1 stefanie 6:57 am

Literary Journalism falls under many names:

  • new journalism
  • narrative journalism
  • intimate journalism
  • immersion journalism
  • creative journalism
  • new new journalism
  • creative non-fiction
  • literary non-fiction

The ‘personal’ aspect of literary journalism is more prominent now then when it first began. It has a long history, including such names as; Charles Dickinson, Ribinson Crusco and Truman Capote. This true story was created from scenes, whole dialogues, points of view, details of character ‘status’ life.

Norman Sims refers to literary journalism as being the ‘art of personal reportage’. This means it has historical elements, there is a great deal of attention to language and the author has participation in an issue, event of situation and this often results in total immersion. There are symbolic realities within the writing, used to help define the situations and accuracy is a key point, as it is indeed non-fiction, it must have quality journalistic integrity. There is a great sense of time and place and observations which are delivered in an entertaining manner. The author has a voice within the feature and used in context, can add to the value of the piece.

Literary journalism:

  • deals with people’s internal life as well as the external life – it needs to go beyond the surface level of a person’s identity
  • never communicates anything through only one means
    -needs to depend on dialogue
    -is seen in a context (sense of time/place)
    -physically/psychologically
    **all these elements add up to a person’s characterisation within the feature**

In general literary journalism is seen as being:

  • researched
    -author’s can spend years researching their stories, it is a part of the committment to fact and also to detail and depth – which is more than just simple facts.
    -it acknowledges that understanding is difficult unless immersion and research is undertaken
  • personal
    -there is the element of the bias of voice, not the bias of inaccuracy
    -the author can choose to be in the story in different ways
    -the author reports on the reporting and reports the reactions
    -alternating personal with other narratives creates some interest
  • styled
    -uses the resources of literary description
    -characterisation
    -plot
    -scenes
    -a created/creative works
    -it’s not about adjectives or devices – it’s about rythmn, patterns and structure
  • symbolic
    -story always is about the meaning of the story not just the chronology of the story
    -stories with mythic resonance
    -brings the everday into the connection with the social, the political and the spiritual
    -compassionate

**Interest lies in the overall structure – literary journalism allows freedom to wander and flow from piece to piece in a variety of ways – a development of personal style binding it all together**

The news values in traditional newspaper reporting is slightly skewed when it comes to literary journalism pieces.

NEWS VALUES – LITERARY JOURNALISM VALUES:

Timeliness: reflection after the event
Currency: the everyday as currency
Conflict: tension and ambiguity
Novelty: novelty and irony
Proximity: bringing the faraway close
Celebrity: everyday people in the limelight
Impact: symbolic

 

anatomy of a miracle… Thursday, Aug 6 2009 

WEEK 1 stefanie 10:22 am

This detailed portrayal of a true life event by William Langewiesche, was a very cleverly written and interesting tale, titled ‘Anatomy of a Miracle’.  The story was an in-depth look into the Hudson River plane crash, that happened in January of 2009. The details of the incident are well know; the Airbus A320 departed LaGuardia airport and moments later the plane was in trouble and needed an emergency landing. The plane had collided with a flock of geese, which caused the plane to malfunction, both engines failing, one catching fire. Chesley Sullenberger, the pilot with 29 years experience landed the plane in the Hudson River, all passengers surviving – including a baby, five crew and two pilots.

Although this amazing story was depicted countless times in the media, in simple and factual articles, Langewiesche’s story goes above and beyond this, by providing the reader with more information and detail then they could even think they would want to know. This, perhaps, is not necessarily a positive aspect, as when reading i often thought to myself  – ‘is this REALLY neccessary to include?’ – In retrospect, i think that the intricate and over-exposing nature of the narrative provides the reader with an entry into the events of the day and an entry into understanding completely the feelings, thoughts, actions and consequences that occured on that day.

Initially i found the feature to drag on a little, the ins and outs of the geese situation in New York discussed way to intently. When it finally got into the events of the day and the motivations behind Sullenberger’s reasons to do what he did, the story was extremely interesting and gripping. I found that i couldn’t put it down and wanted to read until i found 0ut exactly what happened. It is a great story of human strength and determination, it is one of the few stories that actually has the happy ending, so it was a great subject for Langewiesche to write about. The reader is provided with a great deal of background knowledge of the incident, past events and details of the workings of airplanes. I found this all very interesting, given that i previously had no idea about anything to do with this industry.

In terms of the techniques used by Langewiesche to create a literary masterpiece, his piece was extremely well-written and well structured. He used a good mix of informative writing, personal reflection and quoted speech.  The piece was split in sections, each referring to a separate aspect of the incident. This helped to break up a rather heavy subject topic and make the depth of information easier to understand.

During the piece, i empathised with the pilot, put myself in the position of the passengers, was grossed out by the descriptions of the geese and did the whole ‘will they, won’t they’ thing until it finally resulted in a happy ending, much to my relief. The story really drew me into the narrative, not only as an entertaining and dramatic piece, but also as an informative and educational narration.

I really put this piece up on a pedestal as being a quality literary journalism piece and admire the writing and envy the subject of the piece. I can only hope that i create something even a 10th of great quality as this narration is. I learnt a lot through reading this, in terms of how speech can be utilised, how to draw the reader in, by not giving away everything initially and also how detail can create vivid images in one’s mind, which completely increases the sensory experience of a literary journalism feature.

 

neverland’s lost boys… Thursday, Jul 30 2009 

WEEK 1 stefanie 1:01 am

Neverland’s Lost Boys was written in 2004 by Maureen Orth from Vanity Fair. The story was about the allegations against Michael Jackson – of molesting a 13 yr old cancer patient. It follows the issue and also brings to light issues that are rarely, if ever, discussed in the media. This surrounds his drinking and drugs problem, his stalking, his staff members oath to confidentiality and the numerous children and families that have come forward claiming abuse.

The story was very raw in its delivery and there was a huge level of bias within the writings of the story. Orth was prominent within the story with her opinions and ‘observations’. It painted a one-sided picture of Michael’s life and bypassed his talent and love from fans the world wide. In saying this, it was very confronting and an in-your-face way of telling the story from the perspectives of the everyday person.

The following is an example of Orth’s bias and personal opinion:

“Clearly, Michael Jackson is not the defenceless creature and victim of racism he and his family and handlers so assiduously clam him to be in the never-ending stream of interviews they grant – and mosty dominate – on cable TV and network news shows.”

It is evident that Orth had an agenda she wanted to get across and she most certinatly achieved this with her blatant attack on Michael Jackson. I am not stating that i disagree with her or that she lied in her allegations of Michael Jackson, what I am saying is that her opinion was perhaps, too involved with the flow of the story. I believe that she may have achieved this better had she allowed examples from subjects and quotes from subjects to get her opinion across without her physically doing it herself.

I believe that while there may be a possibility that Michael may not be innocent in these allegations, considering the severity, the proof and the fact it’s happened more then once, I also believe it is probable these families (who are struggling financially) may be doing this for the money, thinking it will be easy because he will give them a pay out to make the problem go away.

Aside from the content of the literary piece itself, the style of the work was interesting. I gained some valuable perspective on how a good literary feature is written. Although there are numerous one can write literary journalism, i enjoyed the personal aspect of Orth’s piece. She wrote in a semi-colloquial manner, making it a piece, that although long in length, was quick to read and easy to digest. This can be evidenced by her use of ‘Kat Pellicano told me..’ and ‘Those of us who investigated…’ and ‘I managed to track down Jordie Chandler..’ This shows how Orth wrote in the first person and accounted the process ofher investigation to us, not merely the outcome of the investigation, which i found to be an effective method of writing.

The story flowed well and made you want to continue reading. I have a feeling, a part of that can be attributed to the content, which was interesting and groundbreaking but also a part can be attributed to the style of the piece. Orth used a comparison of a similar issue that arose in 1994 with a boy call Jordie Chandler, who accused Jackson of sexually assulting him.

It was evident that Orth had done extensive research on this issue and has been involved in the research of this issue for numerous years. She has a wide range of subjects, who are all relevant, well-known and close to the star. She has also included a wide range of examples and has written an in-depth analysis of the issues and their impact on Jackson.

In all, it was a very confronting and exposing literary feature that dove deep into a very complicated and layered issue. Considering it was such a complicated and multi-dimensional issue, it was dealt with in a simple manner, making it simple to understand and digest.  As I expressed above, it was biased in its delivery and the author included too many personal opinions, but it was well-written and well-structured, which made it a good read.