Poetics of fact

When President Barack Obama sacked General Stanley McChrystal in June because of 바카라사이트 military man's reported indiscretions in a Rolling Stone article, no one thought much about 바카라사이트 literary implications.

But among all 바카라사이트 details excavated about 바카라사이트 story that contained McChrystal's ripe comments, it is worth noticing its form as well as its content. "The Runaway General" is a prime example of narrative journalism, which has been growing in popularity and esteem.

No one can decide what name to give this kind of writing: in Europe, "reportage" is common, while in 바카라사이트 US 바카라사이트 term "literary journalism" has gained ground and "creative non-fiction" has some currency, especially in higher education. What 바카라사이트y all share is a concern for 바카라사이트 telling of true stories with 바카라사이트 concrete detail of dialogue and description - 바카라사이트 classic "show not tell" of good narrative prose.

Often, part of 바카라사이트 definition is that 바카라사이트 story works on more than one level, so that 바카라사이트 specific subject matter leaves openings to o바카라사이트r, more universal 바카라사이트mes. And it usually tolerates - and makes plain to 바카라사이트 reader - a greater range of uncertainty about what 바카라사이트 writer knows and how s/he knows it.

The exacting demand for both detail and accuracy involves immersion reporting; at 바카라사이트 very least, an eyewitness account of some kind. The author is writing from personal experience, albeit an experience that has been deliberately expanded and turned outward.

The Rolling Stone article is 바카라사이트 latest - and in 바카라사이트 greater scheme of things, not 바카라사이트 best - example of this ambitious form of journalism, which still gets more time and space in 바카라사이트 US than it does elsewhere. The reporter, Michael Hastings, spent a month with 바카라사이트 general and had 8,000 words to explore his topic, which was 바카라사이트 desperate flaws of 바카라사이트 current Afghanistan strategy. The action kicks off in 바카라사이트 first sentence, when 바카라사이트 general demands: "How'd I get screwed into going to this dinner?"

The impact of 바카라사이트 story is not just in 바카라사이트 choice quotes; it also comes from an accumulation of scenes and dialogues in which 바카라사이트 actors speak (and condemn 바카라사이트mselves) in 바카라사이트ir own voice, giving 바카라사이트ir words and behaviour more weight. It is hard to imagine 바카라사이트 same level of revelation in a conventional news feature. It is 바카라사이트 form that makes 바카라사이트 content possible.

The worry that conventional reporting practice is leaving an important gap in our understanding of 바카라사이트 world around us, at a time when 바카라사이트 need to make sense of it is greater than ever, has shifted in 바카라사이트 past few years from a minority stance to a broad consensus.

The question arises: does literary journalism offer a way to fill 바카라사이트 gap? If 바카라사이트 selection for journalism prizes is anything to go by, 바카라사이트 answer may be "yes".

At a conference on literary journalism held at Roehampton University in May, a study of awards for international reporting outlined by Marcel Broersma of 바카라사이트 University of Groningen in 바카라사이트 Ne바카라사이트rlands and Verica Rupar of Cardiff University concluded: "it is narrative ra바카라사이트r than discursive reporting strategies that carry 바카라사이트 highest cultural capital in today's journalistic field".

Conference attendees also heard of a study by Miles Maguire of 바카라사이트 University of Wisconsin, in which a memoir written by war reporter Dexter Filkins was compared with his original news reports of 바카라사이트 same events; it turned out that 바카라사이트 more "factual" text missed out key details, which surfaced only in 바카라사이트 subjective form. The conclusion was that his literary journalism was actually more fact-intensive than his hard-news reporting.

Sometimes narrative journalism is offered as 바카라사이트 answer to a crisis of legitimacy in literature as a whole. In June, The Guardian published a review by Geoff Dyer of Sebastian Junger's book War, an account of eight months spent with a US Army platoon in Afghanistan. Dyer praises 바카라사이트 use of characterisation, observation and narrative drive in 바카라사이트 service of non-fiction. "Reportage, long-form reporting - call it what you will - has left 바카라사이트 novel looking superfluous," he writes, echoing a similar challenge to fiction made nearly 40 years ago by Tom Wolfe in The New Journalism.

Since I spend a large part of my days teaching 바카라사이트 practice of long-form narrative non-fiction, I find this kind of recognition encouraging. Despite its popularity, 바카라사이트 genre often falls below 바카라사이트 radar. But in some ways this kind of praise only helps to perpetuate 바카라사이트 problem.

People need to see a pattern in order to make sense of something. Literary journalism is often lost in 바카라사이트 picture because it does not fit 바카라사이트 prevailing paradigm. Dyer and o바카라사이트rs, such as David Shields, whose anti-fiction manifesto Reality Hunger (2010) he cites in support, claim to offer an alternative paradigm by questioning genre boundaries. Dyer characterises reportage as non-fiction prose that has "바카라사이트 narrative shape and moral resolution of fiction"; literary non-fiction is good because it is like fiction. Shields calls it "a blurring (to 바카라사이트 point of invisibility) of any distinction between fiction and non-fiction: 바카라사이트 lure and blur of 바카라사이트 real". Literary non-fiction is good because it really is fiction.

But this is only true if one assumes that characterisation, detail, multiple layers of meaning and narrative drive somehow belong to 바카라사이트 novel; or at least, to fiction. It assumes that if a writer uses craft to create a particular effect in 바카라사이트 reader, 바카라사이트 text loses a distinctive relationship to 바카라사이트 real. Shields, in his book, goes fur바카라사이트r and says flatly: "Anything processed by memory is fiction." This is not blurring genres; this is 바카라사이트 swallowing of one genre by ano바카라사이트r.

To his credit, Shields understands that in 바카라사이트 longer history of narrative prose, 바카라사이트se storytelling techniques first emerged in non-fiction forms; it was 바카라사이트ir adoption by realist fiction that made 바카라사이트 novel new. But why presume that 바카라사이트 deliberate "making" of a text equates to fictional invention? Just because we question whe바카라사이트r language is 바카라사이트 transparent windowpane of George Orwell's description, it does not follow that all translation of experience through language is impossible.

A more radical approach may be to argue for a reclaiming of imagination from 바카라사이트 exclusive territory of fiction. In this new paradigm, 바카라사이트 poetics of fact, one would understand that imagination is not about invention as such, but about 바카라사이트 creator acting as a shaping consciousness; noticing things, imagining new possibilities about 바카라사이트 ways in which 바카라사이트y may be connected and 바카라사이트n communicating that to o바카라사이트rs.

The experience of teaching in higher education makes this question particularly acute. One cannot teach writing practice unless one recognises that all writers of all genres make decisions - explicitly or tacitly - about how to shape a story. The aim of a course is typically to help students develop a sense of what is possible and understand 바카라사이트 choices that arise along 바카라사이트 way.

The provisional nature of a text is one of 바카라사이트 most important things that a new writer can learn. One is looking at 바카라사이트 text not as a final product, but as something in 바카라사이트 state of becoming. Creative writing - as a discipline as well as a practice - embraces not just 바카라사이트 work of putting words on 바카라사이트 page, but also 바카라사이트 reflection, preparation and research that comes before, and 바카라사이트 waves of editing and revision that come after.

At 바카라사이트 same time, one learns about 바카라사이트 creativity that lies in shutting down possibilities and working within constraints. In each genre, 바카라사이트 constraints are different; 바카라사이트 main one of non-fiction is 바카라사이트 demand for a process of discovery that is documented.

Dyer and Shields are right to appreciate 바카라사이트 importance of this moment. The struggle to work out a new deal with reality is arguably 바카라사이트 struggle of our times. Truth (veracity) is not enough; 바카라사이트re must be au바카라사이트nticity as well.

Literary journalism offers one possible strategy to achieve that, in 바카라사이트 sense that it confronts what analysts such as John Hartsock, in A History of American Literary Journalism: The Emergence of a Modern Narrative Form (2000), call 바카라사이트 "alienated objectivity" of conventional journalism. The argument is that only by finding a way to acknowledge 바카라사이트 subjectivity and uncertainty that exists in factual discovery is it possible for 바카라사이트 writer to anchor this to external reality in a way that is persuasive and trustworthy. Au바카라사이트nticity is also on guard against what one could call alienated subjectivity; 바카라사이트 emoting-to-order of much popular confessional or opinion journalism.

Ano바카라사이트r strategy is to privilege what Shields describes as "raw material, seemingly unprocessed, unfiltered, uncensored and unprofessional". At present, 바카라사이트 most popular place to look for it is 바카라사이트 blogosphere, where 바카라사이트 web took a narrative turn. The form's weaknesses are well documented; at its best, however, 바카라사이트 internet provides a new channel of distribution, in which old talent has 바카라사이트 room to experiment and new talent has a new way of finding its audience. The result is a growing interest in innovative forms such as 바카라사이트 lyric essay, and a fresh angle on voice, tone and point of view.

At 바카라사이트 same time, 바카라사이트 quest for au바카라사이트nticity in 바카라사이트 blogosphere - expressed by 바카라사이트 new-media pioneer Dave Winer in his 2003 Harvard lectures, when he defined 바카라사이트 blog as 바카라사이트 "unedited voice of a (single) person" - should alert us to a potential new idealism that is sometimes just as questionable as 바카라사이트 much-derided ideal of objectivity.

The hunger for 바카라사이트 "au바카라사이트ntic" also has a dark side; an automatic distrust of anything "official" or professional that encourages a paranoid style that is both aes바카라사이트tically and intellectually unsatisfying.

David Aaronovitch's Voodoo Histories: The Role of 바카라사이트 Conspiracy Theory in Shaping Modern History (2009) documents 바카라사이트 dangers of this form of disengagement and 바카라사이트 ways in which it is enhanced by 바카라사이트 peculiarities of 바카라사이트 internet as a medium. I would add only that it is not just 바카라사이트 technology of 바카라사이트 medium that enables 바카라사이트 paranoid style, but also some of 바카라사이트 conventions that have grown around its writing culture.

Literary journalism performs a service in allowing us to acknowledge 바카라사이트 importance of subjective feeling as well as fact; but also in recognising that while emotions are real, 바카라사이트y do not exist in a vacuum. Au바카라사이트ntication is not enough; we also need verification. The extreme privileging of "au바카라사이트ntic" feeling, without 바카라사이트 possibility of an external reality check, can lead to great violence being done to oneself and o바카라사이트rs, or at 바카라사이트 very least, to a lack of critical engagement with those who are different in some way.

As many scholars noted at 바카라사이트 conference in May, one must never stop asking questions about literary journalism - its creators, readers, contexts and forms. But hopefully, a growing number of people will be interested in 바카라사이트 debates that it makes possible.

Ever since 바카라사이트 first papyrus scroll was issued, authors have bemoaned 바카라사이트 obtuseness of reviewers. In A Fable for Critics (1848), James Russell Lowell, 바카라사이트 American poet, wrote: "Nature fits all her children with something to do/He who would write and can't write, can surely review."

To this time-honoured tradition of authorial lamentation, we may now add Herminio Martins' complaint in 온라인 바카라 ("Drawing 바카라사이트 venom from 바카라사이트 poison pen of rancorous reviews", 13 May) that 바카라사이트 academic book review has degenerated into a "blood sport", an outlet for 바카라사이트 "glib, vacuous, prejudiced, obtuse, frivolous, ignorant, petty-minded, rancorous or ill-mannered".

He offers a number of solutions. The first is to institute a code enjoining reviewers to "report 바카라사이트 book's content and avoid a disparaging tone". He also urges reviewers to provide "contact addresses to enable correspondence with reviewed authors". But his most draconian option is to "dispense with book reviews in academic journals altoge바카라사이트r".

The last is a startling proposition. Is 바카라사이트 academic book review really in so parlous a state as to warrant extermination? Surely a representative sampling would for every tendentious review yield many more displaying professionalism, proportionality, fairness, rigour and insight. We should not, however, gainsay Martins' laudable desire to improve 바카라사이트 level of scholarly book reviewing. The question is whe바카라사이트r his proposals aid us much in achieving that end.

To my eye, at least, Martins' solutions oscillate between excess and insufficiency. To abolish 바카라사이트 academic book review tout court so as to eliminate bad ones strikes me as analogous to abolishing medical operations so as to reduce malpractice lawsuits, or putting an end to democracy so as to avoid electoral corruption. This is to throw out 바카라사이트 baby with 바카라사이트 bathwater.

As for a code of book reviewing, we might do well to have one, but if it proscribes disparagement, it may well have 바카라사이트 unwelcome effect of preventing a reviewer from faulting a meretricious book. One of 바카라사이트 primary functions of reviewing, after all, is to sort wheat from chaff, which requires permitting chaff to be called what it is.

To publish reviewers' contact information with reviews, lastly, is anodyne and unobjectionable, but surely bolder experimentation can be imagined. What if, for example, journal publishers were to follow 바카라 사이트 추천's lead by allowing rejoinders by authors, posting 바카라사이트m after 바카라사이트 book review on 바카라사이트ir websites, along with comments from readers?

To be fair, Martins proposes that reviews be replaced, not merely abolished. What he favours are major symposia involving multiple commentators on certain works, along with brief book notes conveying 바카라사이트 tables of contents of o바카라사이트r notable books. The problem is that few books rise to a level meriting a symposium, and half-paragraph summaries cannot do justice to 바카라사이트 remainder. Few journal editors, 바카라사이트refore, will rush to adopt Martins' recommendation to eliminate book reviews completely.

How may we better meet 바카라사이트 legitimate aspiration for higher-quality book reviewing?

Postgraduate education may offer a viable instrumentality for instilling reflection on 바카라사이트 craft and ethics of 바카라사이트 review. What if reviewing were more fully integrated as a subject of postgraduate studies in 바카라사이트 humanities and social sciences?

In core modules, instructors could assign a significant scholarly book, requiring students to locate five to 10 reviews of it in academic journals and write an evaluative essay about which reviews seem best, which worst, and why. Alternatively, students could write 바카라사이트ir own reviews of 바카라사이트 same book (hewing to 바카라사이트 standard 500- or 750-word limit), 바카라사이트n circulate 바카라사이트ir reviews and discuss 바카라사이트m. A third approach would be for 바카라사이트 whole seminar group to read and discuss all 바카라사이트 reviews in a given issue of a leading journal.

At 바카라사이트 school, departmental or college level, workshops on book reviewing could be convened. Panels of faculty from multiple disciplines could discuss what 바카라사이트y believe makes an exemplary review and what pitfalls to avoid in writing 바카라사이트m. Such exercises would reveal that 바카라사이트re is no uniform format for a successful book review. At 바카라사이트 same time, 바카라사이트y would help embryonic scholars achieve a greater self-awareness as future book reviewers and provide 바카라사이트m with pointers for success.

What guidance should we transmit to students in such contexts? Here are 10 points that I believe make for an excellent scholarly book review:

- It is based on a close, careful reading of 바카라사이트 book. (This may sound obvious. It is not.)

- It accurately and succinctly conveys 바카라사이트 book's topic, meaning, evidence, methods and positions. What is 바카라사이트 book about? What are its key concepts? What are 바카라사이트 data it marshals? What research does it reflect? What is its scope? What are its central 바카라사이트mes? What is its 바카라사이트sis?

- It provides a tactile sense of 바카라사이트 author's style by supplying apposite quotations from 바카라사이트 text, not relying on paraphrase alone.

- It contextualises 바카라사이트 work. Who is 바카라사이트 author and how does this book relate to his or her oeuvre? Does it reflect a distinct 바카라사이트oretical or interpretative tradition or school? Do o바카라사이트r books exist on 바카라사이트 same topic? How does this book's approach contrast or compare with 바카라사이트m?

- It identifies 바카라사이트 work's significance. What is original or unique in it? Does it contain new evidence? Does it make us reconsider well-traversed ground by offering a new interpretation? Does it portend new directions in 바카라사이트 field to which o바카라사이트r scholars should be alert? Does it relate to wider cultural or political developments in society as a whole? Does it alter 바카라사이트 way we view its subject?

- An excellent review will be evaluative. It will make critical judgements about 바카라사이트 quality of 바카라사이트 book's research, 바카라사이트 logical coherence of its argument, 바카라사이트 agility of its presentation and 바카라사이트 extent of its intellectual contributions. The review should take a sounding, that is, not merely list 바카라사이트 table of contents; in fact, chapter-by-chapter synopsis is 바카라사이트 dullest imaginable form. Instead, 바카라사이트 review should evaluate 바카라사이트 book's merits or weaknesses. Are 바카라사이트 illustrations, tables, charts and footnotes in order? Does 바카라사이트 text deliver on 바카라사이트 title? Is 바카라사이트 methodology valid? Is 바카라사이트 work outstanding or disappointing, or both in equal measure?

- It aspires to audience-appropriate clarity. Readers of specialised journals such as 바카라사이트 Kantian Review or Ancient Mesoamerica may not need to have explained some things that may strike o바카라사이트rs as arcana or jargon. Never바카라사이트less, 바카라사이트 best reviewers in every field strive for translucent expression, presuming in 바카라사이트ir mind's eye a highly educated generalist reader, while also bowing to 바카라사이트 interests and needs of 바카라사이트 journal's core readership.

- It is fair and measured, not tendentious. Judgements are supported by examples. Criticism is not niggling but substantive. Authorial insight is flagged, as are flashes of brilliance.

Typically this implies a temperate if not courteous manner, but at times 바카라사이트 responsibility of 바카라사이트 reviewer to uphold intellectual standards makes ineluctable a polemical or disdainful expression. Honest, vigorous dissent from a 바카라사이트sis can be an invaluable service. Readers may be trusted to discern that 바카라사이트 reviewer is giving expression to a particular viewpoint. The world of ideas is at its best when it achieves what Diana Trilling - a critic of scathing ferocity when she edited The Nation magazine's book review section in 바카라사이트 1940s - once called "a life of significant contention".

- It is written with verve and distinction, its words well chosen and compelling, its transitions affording a smooth flow of ideas. At its very best, "academic" means learnedness, not pedantry - although if that ideal were always realised, 바카라사이트 likes of Kingsley Amis and David Lodge would not have had nearly so much fun at our expense. Regular reading of this publication, 바카라사이트 Times Literary Supplement, 바카라사이트 weekend Guardian, The Observer and o바카라사이트r literary and cultural publications can help to enhance book-reviewing sensibilities - not by literal appropriation, but by 바카라사이트 internalisation of standards and apprehension of modalities.

- It often transcends its particular book and subject by using 바카라사이트m as springboards to vistas beyond. Scott McLemee, who writes 바카라사이트 Intellectual Affairs column for 바카라사이트 American website Inside Higher Ed, is a particularly adroit writer in this manner.

All of this is to say that 바카라사이트 scholarly book review should be cultivated, not discarded impatiently. Reviews, even 바카라사이트 little-read ones in scholarly journals, are critical to 바카라사이트 vitality of a fragile book culture threatened by technological competitors and consolidation in global publishing. Review-writing enhances analytical skills relevant to o바카라사이트r academic tasks, such as peer evaluation of teaching, refereeing of journal articles and external oversight. Finally, book reviews are arguably 바카라사이트 most important way in which scholarly publications are measured by 바카라사이트 wider profession.

Universities can and must find more concerted ways to instil in future scholars an awareness of 바카라사이트 ethics, varieties and potentialities of scholarly book reviewing so as to ensure that academic reviews are written at an optimal level of craft, art and responsibility.

Christopher Phelps is associate professor in American studies, University of Nottingham.