International Association for Literary Journalism Studies Literary Journalism Studies the Journal of the International Association for Literary Journalism Studies
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Charles Bowden, academic, beat reporter, literary journalist, 1945–2014 Literary Journalism Studies Vol. 6, No. 2, Fall 2014 Amy Wilentz and Alma Guillermoprieto on literary journalism in the digital era !e Journal of the International Association for Literary Journalism Studies Literary Journalism Studies The Journal of the International Association for Literary Journalism Studies Vol. 6, No. 2, Fall 2014 ––––––––––––––––– Information for Contributors 4 Note from the Editor 5 ––––––––––––––––– Charles Bowden’s Anarcho-Biotic Poetics by Martha Nandorfy 8 The Role of the Literary Journalist in the Digital Era Keynote Address, IALJS-9, Paris by Amy Wilentz 32 Amy Wilentz, excerpt from Farewell, Fred Voodoo “Ghosts by Daylight” 44 Finding Emma Larkin by Christopher P. Wilson 50 “‘Just as I Am’? Marshall Frady’s Making of Billy Graham” by Doug Cumming 76 Mapping Nonfiction Narrative: Towards a New Theoretical Approach to Analyzing Literary Journalism by Fiona Giles and William Roberts 102 Scholar-Practitioner Q+A Mileta Roe interviews Alma Guillermoprieto 120 Book Reviews 133 ––––––––––––––––– Mission Statement 142 International Association for Literary Journalism Studies 143 2 Literary Journalism Studies Copyright © 2014 International Association for Literary Journalism Studies All rights reserved Website: www.literaryjournalismstudies.org Literary Journalism Studies is the journal of the International Association for Literary Journalism Studies and is published twice yearly. For information on subscribing or membership, go to www.ialjs.org. Member of the Council of Editors of Learned Journals Published twice a year, Spring and Fall issues. Subscriptions, $50/year (individuals), $75/year (libraries). ISSN 1944-897X (paper) ISSN 1944-8988 (online) 3 Literary Journalism Studies Editor Publisher Bill Reynolds David Abrahamson Ryerson University Northwestern University Canada United States Advisory Board Associate Editors Robert Alexander, John S. Bak, Lynn Cunningham Jo Bech-Karlsen, R. Thomas Berner, Ryerson University Robert S. Boynton, Thomas B. Connery, Canada Juan Domingues, David Eason, Tobias Eberwein, Shelley Fisher Fishkin, William Dow Leonora Flis, Kathy Roberts Forde, American University of Paris Brian Gabrial, Susan Greenberg, France Vera Hanna, John C. Hartsock, Miles Maguire Roberto Herrscher, Tim Holmes, Beati Josephi, Richard Lance Keeble, University of Wisconsin Willa McDonald, Isabelle Meuret, Oshkosh, United States John J. Pauly, Guillaume Pinson, Roberta S. Maguire Joshua M. Roiland, Barry Siegel, University of Wisconsin Norman Sims, Isabel Soares, Marie-Eve Thérenty, Alice Donat Trindade, Oshkosh, United States Andie Tucher, Doug Underwood, Jan Whitt, Christopher P. Wilson, Book Review Editor Mateusz Zimnoch, Sonja Merljak Zvodc Nancy L. Roberts University at Albany, SUNY Web Administrator United States Nicholas Jackson Editorial Offices Literary Journalism Studies School of Journalism Ryerson University 350 Victoria Street Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5B 2K3 Email: [email protected] Published at the Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University 1845 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208, United States 4 SUBMISSION INFORMATION ITERARY JOURNALISM STUDIES invites submissions of original scholarly L articles on literary journalism, which is also known as narrative journalism, liter- ary reportage, reportage literature, New Journalism, and the nonfiction novel, as well as literary and narrative nonfiction that emphasizes cultural revelation. The journal has an international focus and seeks submissions on the theory, history, and pedagogy of literary journalism throughout the world. All disciplinary approaches are welcome. Submissions should be informed with an awareness of the existing scholarship and should be between 3,000 and 8,000 words in length, including notes. To encourage international dialogue, the journal is open to publishing on occasion short examples or excerpts of previously published literary journalism accompanied by a scholarly gloss about or an interview with the writer who is not widely known outside his or her country. The example or excerpt must be translated into English. The scholarly gloss or interview should generally be between 1,500 and 2,500 words long and in- dicate why the example is important in the context of its national culture. Together, both the text and the gloss generally should not exceed 8,000 words in length. The contributor is responsible for obtaining all copyright permissions, including from the publisher, author and translator as necessary. The journal is also willing to consider publication of exclusive excerpts of narrative literary journalism accepted for publica- tion by major publishers. Email submission (as a Microsoft Word attachment) is mandatory. A cover page in- dicating the title of the paper, the author’s name, institutional affiliation, and contact information, along with an abstract (50–100 words), should accompany all submis- sions. The cover page should be sent as a separate attachment from the abstract and submission to facilitate distribution to readers. No identification should appear linking the author to the submission or abstract. All submissions must be in English Microsoft Word and follow the Chicago Manual of Style (Humanities endnote style) <http://www. chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html>. All submissions will be blind re- viewed. Send submissions to the editor at <[email protected]>. Copyright reverts to the contributor after publication with the provision that if re- published reference is made to initial publication in Literary Journalism Studies. OOK REVIEWS are invited. They should be 1,000–2,000 words and focus on Bthe scholarship of literary journalism and recent original works of literary jour- nalism that deserve greater recognition among scholars. Book reviews are not blind reviewed but selected by the book review editor based on merit. Reviewers may sug- gest book review prospects or write the book review editor for suggestions. Usually reviewers will be responsible for obtaining their respective books. Book reviews and/ or related queries should be sent to Nancy L. Roberts at <[email protected]> 5 Note from the Editor… his issue of Literary Journalism Studies marks a changing of Tthe guard. John C. Hartsock, former editor of this journal, and author of the scholarly work A History of American Literary Journalism, has, after five-plus years of extraordinary service to our beloved field of study, moved on. I have been entrusted with building on his venerable service. These are rather large shoes to fill, and I can only strive to continue his excellent work. The issue you are now holding in your hands (or reading online) will, I hope, be seen as a continu- ation of that excellent work. We have some fascinating essays in this issue, ones that challenge and maybe widen the scope of literary journalism. Martha Nandorfy’s essay on Charles Bowden was written, reviewed, revised, and readied for publication before the news broke of Bowden’s shocking death on August 30 of this year. Bowden had become something of a growing study among literary journalism scholars in the IALJS. His method— which metamorphosed from telling horrific stories of American hubris in plain style to telling horrific stories in metaphorical realism, graduating in its final incarnation to an imagined meeting of the New Journalism and Magic Realism—is explored here. We are also delighted to be able to publish Amy Wilentz’s keynote address to the International Association for Literary Journalism Studies annual congress in May of this year. Wilentz’s deep consideration of what it means to be a literary journalist in an era whose pace is altogether too fast for literary journalism is both sobering and valuable. Mileta Roe’s interview with the great New Yorker writer Alma Guillermo- prieto only reinforces this trepidation. We are also pleased to publish an excerpt from Wilentz’s National Book Critics Circle Award–winning Farewell, Fred Voodoo. We are also honored to have the opportunity to publish Christopher P. Wil- son’s essay on the ever-elusive Emma Larkin, his rumination on literary journalism, George Orwell, Nineteen Eight-four, and Burma all rolled into one. Wilson’s article, by the way, was awarded best research paper at IALJS-9 in Paris. A research piece that has been a long time in the works and now finished is Doug Cumming’s assessment of the New Journalist Marshall Frady. Cumming’s is a targeted work, focusing on Frady’s elongated literary pursuit of the evangelist Billy Graham. Cumming ponders Frady’s relation to his subject as he recounts Frady’s elusive quest for a true version of the famous man’s reality, and the consequences of getting (perhaps too) close to one’s subject. Finally, for those of you in the literary journalism universe who are inclined to- ward theory, I hope you find much to digest, and perhaps even argue with, in William Roberts and Fiona Giles’s essay on classification in literary journalism. What Norman Sims has often called taxonomy is still very much at issue in some quarters, and Rob- erts and Giles, in their ingenious update of David Eason’s early literary journalism work from the 1980s, will I’m sure spur a new round of debate over classification. As mentioned above, Mileta Rose graciously interviewed Alma Guillermoprieto for LJS in what I hope will be a continuing series of scholar-practitioner interviews. Happy reading. Bill Reynolds 6 Literary Journalism Studies Photo by