Creative Non-Fiction … well, that sounds a little
contradictory to me. Mainly because as a history major we are taught to stick
to the facts, be specific, and be compelling. Because this has been pounded
into my head for the last 3 ½ years, I will say that I am not a creative
writer. In fact, I take pride in my amazing historical researching abilities
and the awesome way in which I take my resources and create my essays or
research projects. Now, do not confuse me not being creative with me saying
that I am dull or not a fun person to be around. Rather, I think that being a
creative non-fiction writer means being able to create awesome metaphors and
embellishments that make the mundane extraordinary and interesting.
Before reading the excerpts from Blue Desert and Visions of
America, my idea of what kind of characteristics this genre encompassed remained
the same as after I had read them. According to Lee Gutkind, one of the
creators of the genre, there is certain criterion that makes non-fiction,
creative non-fiction. Both of these stories that we read were of personal
experiences of the authors. They had taken time to isolate themselves from what
most of us would call society and write, in a creative way, how they lived and
dealt with the struggles in their respective settings.
I think the most important characteristic that both stories
have is the ability of the authors to acknowledge a situation and to make it
compelling for the reader. Each of these could have been written just as
straight facts or thoughts. But what is the fun in that? People want to be
entertained and the genre of creative non-fiction allows people to understand
the facts of a problem or circumstances, while being entertained by the author.
For me, the most enjoyable to read was Blue Desert. I know, most of you probably thought I would choose Visions of America because of my major.
But let me explain … I LOVED reading about how Charles Bowden wanted to cross
the border as if he were a Mexican. This has nothing to do with my personal
position on illegal immigrants or anything like that. Rather, I liked it
because he was taking a contemporary issue and creating an interesting outlook
that was inspired by his own creativity.
“Nobody pays much attention to the summer sport. The players
are nameless and constantly changing and so there is little identification with
them or with their skills and defeats. And the players are brown and this earns
them a certain contempt and makes attraction difficult to sell to spectators" (Bowden 151). Bowden took border hopping and instead of making it about right or
wrong, he focused on their experience and in turn decided to recreate their
plight. As we read, he takes us along on his “Mexican” experience. Whether we
like it or not, we now have a different outlook on a situation based off of
this creative non-fiction author.
Although I feel as if I will never be a creative writer, I
think that these two examples of the genre show us that people who dabble in
this kind of work are poetic geniuses. They take their personal experiences, no
matter how dull, and create not only entertaining, but also informative essays,
articles, and books.
I like your bluntness! Even as a history major taking a 440 level English class, I commend your ambition! Even though I do not fancy myself a creative writer either, I think it’s still important for English majors to learn about the different components that make up the English language. I like the way you interpreted creative non-fiction by saying “They had taken time to isolate themselves from what most of us would call society, and write, in a creative way, how they lived and dealt with the struggles in their respective settings” because it’s absolutely right. They lived the adventures they wrote about, there’s no question to that. It’s adding an additional detail here or some creative imagery there that makes the story more compelling.
ReplyDeleteIt’s interesting you found Blue Desert to be your preference of the two selections. I can kind of see where you’re coming from, in addition to Bowden crossing the border as a Mexican. Bowden did include tons of historical references in his work, ranging from the pottery remains he found along the way or the old campfire/bonfire remains. But Bowden did take a rather controversial issue (Obama addressed border patrol in his State of the Union speech just this week!) and created an adventure out of it. But like you said, authors that can take personal experiences and make them so they appeal to a broader audience are creative geniuses.
Megan, you point out a key difference between regular nonfiction and creative nonfiction that I think is an important distinction. You note that the responsibility of the writer is to not only tell the truth, but to tell it in a creative and compelling way. For you, the creativity of the writer is most important in creative nonfiction, and I definitely agree that creative nonfiction involves works of art. Brad argues in his journal that creative nonfiction writers can bend the truth to get us to feel their perspective, while altering minor facts. I think that your imperative to creativity can work well with Brad’s approach. For both of you, the end is a narrative that is aesthetically pleasing and moving.
ReplyDeleteMaria