Beautiful bastards

24/04/08 21:15
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Americans have words for just about everything. They might not mean a whole lot, but still they are there. That is how you sell stuff over here. You take the same old product, dress it up in a different coat, and invent a new name for it. Fast food is a good example. Since we got here we have had Baconators, Whataburgers, Big Baddies, and whatnot - and they have all been the same old combination of beef and bread in various disguises.

So, of course, they would also have a name for what we are doing over here. In fact, not just a name - but an entire genre! I found out by chance when I was talking to Kevin, an English major at Northland College, Ashland, with a knack for writing and sculpturing. I described to him how we would stuff our experiences into a shake'n'bake bag, throw it around our motel room for a couple of hours, and then funnel the mixture onto our bathroom floor in occult figures. That is how we make sure that whatever comes out is factual in all the senses that it needs to be factual - only the context might not be even remotely recognizable.

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"That's it!" Kevin said out loud, excitedly pointing his finger at nothing in particular. "That's exactly it!"

"That's exactly what?" I replied, lost for any other words.

"Creative nonfiction!" he blurted out. "What you guys are doing is creative nonfiction!"


I guess the reason Kevin was so excited about defining our genre is that so far nobody has really been able to give out any definite definition of creative nonfiction. So even if he could not exactly name it, at least he could recognize it when he saw it. I believe his best attempt at describing it was when he called it "an intermediary between the personal and the journalistic essay". A kind of bastard child of self and surroundings ("Oh, if I could fuck a mountain," the sweet voice of Bonnie Prince Billie flows chemically through my brain).

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Kevin went on to tell me that just as the Americans used to baby the short story, they have now increasingly taken to babying this creative nonfiction sibling. All high on being part of a trend that I did not even know existed, I kept pestering Kevin with questions about it. In the end he wrote me a long list of relevant writers, and even gave me a book by two of the leading authorities on the subject. Tell it slant is part introduction to writing creative nonfiction, and part anthology of acclaimed creative nonfictionauts. When I am done reading it, hopefully I will be able to tell you more about this beautiful little afterthought of a genre.

In conclusion, allow me to quote the poem by Emily Dickinson that prefaces the book:

Tell all the Truth but tell it slant
Success in Circuit lies
Too bright for our infirm Delight
The Truth's superb surprise

As Lightning to the Children eased
With explanation kind
The Truth must dazzle gradually
Or every man be blind

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* Thanks to Kevin for kicking in new doors for me. I wish you the best of luck out there in your sea kayak on Lake Superior. I know it is raining hard, and there is a snow storm coming up in the weekend - so take care, and keep warm!

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