THE NEWSLETTER OF THE IALJS Literary jourNAlism
VOL 6 NO 4 INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR LITERARY JOURNALISM STUDIES FALL 2012
FUTURE IALJS CALL FOR A NEW guest edited volume 1, number 2 CONFERENCE SITES (Fall 2009) while John finished his The following future IALJS convention international Gourmand Award-win- venues are confirmed and/or planned: JOURNAL EDITOR ning book, Seasons of a Finger Lakes IALJS-8: U niversity of Tampere, The search is on. Tampere, Finland, 16-18 May 2013 [note Winery—that without John’s tenacity date change]. By Bill Reynolds, in setting the design template, orga- IALJS-9: American University of Ryerson University (Canada) nizing the double-blind reviewing Paris, France,15-17 May 2014. process and insisting on setting the IALJS-10: University of St. Thomas, little more than three years ago, I highest scholarly standards immedi- St. Paul, Minnesota, U.S.A, 7-9 May sat with John Hartsock in my Hotel ately, there simply would be no 2015 (pending). Orrington room in downtown Literary Journalism Studies today. And IALJS-11: Northwestern University Qatar, Doha, Qatar, 19-21 May 2016 Evanston, Illinois. The occasion for living by doing so, John also has played a (pending). Ain a hotel for a few days was the IALJS-4 major role in establishing literary IALJS-12: University of Technology conference nearby at Northwestern journalism as a scholarly discipline. Sydney and Macquarie University, Sydney, University. The occasion for John’s laptop And so of course it is with Australia, 11-13 May 2017 (pending). sitting on John’s some trepidation that we take our IALJS-13: University of Nova Gorica, lap in my hotel first baby steps toward the new nor- Slovenia, 17-19 May 2018 (pending). room was final mal, which is to say, a Literary proofreading of the Journalism Studies without John at the inaugural issue of helm. To that end, in Toronto this DEADLINE FOR 2013 Literary Journalism past May we did put out an initial SubmissionsCONFERENCE for IALJS-8 at SETthe University Studies, the schol- call for an editor to succeed John. But of Tampere, Finland in May 2013 are due arly journal perhaps I might reiterate the point on 1 December 2012. This due date launched by this that we are looking for an editor to includes research paper submissions, association in May begin as early as volume 5, number 1, works in progress and panel proposals. PRESIDENT’S 2009. the Spring 2013 issue. The hope John had been would be for the new editor to act as LETTER slaving away on his understudy to John for one issue INSIDE2 Tampere: IALJS-8 Host City InDesign file back before taking over the reins with vol- 3 IALJS-8 Call for Papers, May 2013 at his house in ume 5, number 2 (the Fall 2013 issue). Homer, N.Y., near State University of New 6 Registration Form for IALJS-8 The search for John’s succes- York at Cortland, where he teaches. He sor is being handled by our 7 African American Literary Journalism hadn’t quite finished the issue, but almost. Publications Committee, consisting of 9 Literary Journalism in New Zealand This was a momentous occasion, and we Rob Alexander (Brock University, 10 Sims/Essay: In Three Dimensions knew it. As far back as May 2006, at Canada), Thomas Connery 14 Roessner/Narrative: Ring Lardner Université-Nancy in France, many of us (University of St. Thomas, U.S.A.), 16 Quotable Quote: Henry Rosovsky had dreamed the grand dream of creating and immediate past IALJS president 17 Editor Sought for LJS Journal a scholarly journal dedicated to the study Alice Trindade (Technical University of literary journalism in all of many facets Lisbon, Portugal). Any IALJS mem- 19 Student Panel at IALJS-7 in Toronto and varieties worldwide. And here we ber interested may apply by sending 21 2012 IALJS Membership Form were, on the verge, just days from sending a brief note and a current vita in PDF 22 IALJS Officers and Chairs the file to the excellent and modestly form to Alice Trindade, IALJS 24 Teaching Tips priced printer in downtown Evanston. Publications Committee Chair at I think I can say with some author-
PAGE 1 CITY OF TAMPERE / PETRI KIVINEN AE2 PAGE Literar © 2012 The NewsletteroftheInternational for Association ISSN 1941-1049(online) ISSN 1941-1030(print) andDavid BillReynolds Abrahamson Editors: FALL2012 Vol 6 No 4 Literar Viita, asignificantandwidelyread district andamuseumdedicatedtoLauri path thatleadstothepicturesque Pispala doughnuts. Behindthetowerthere isa and thetowercaféisfamousforitsfr over thelakesandcityofTampere— observation toweroffers a beautifulview the cityistoheadheights.Pyynikki inland centre intheNordic countries. making machine,in1842.Thefirstelectric started operationin1783;thefirstpaper- pioneer inFinland.Thefirstpapermill through thecitycenter. miss theTammerkoski rapids,whichrun visitorcanhardly 187,888, tobeexact. A the landofthousandslakes—or exemplary representative ofFinlandas By MariaLassila-Merisalo,UniversityofTampere (Finland) Tampere isalivelycitywithplentyofattractions. CONFERENCEINFINLAND’SINLAND 2012 ANNUAL ABOVE, ANABUNDANCEOFW THE TAMMERKOSKI RAPIDSINTHE CITYCENTER. SIGHTS oraimSuis Allrightsreser y JournalismStudies. y Journalism CITY ELEMENT INTAMPERE. TWOBRIDGES CROSS Perhaps thebestwaytotakein Tampere hasbeenanindustrial W AS BUILT IN1907 ANDISFAMOUS FOR THE NEWSLETTEROFIALJS BELOW, THETAMPERE CATHEDRAL ITS REMARKABLEFRESCOES. L Tampere isan and Pyhäjärvi, lakes Näsijärvi and thelargest city inFinland the third largest inhabitants, itis W Finnish industry. still thecentre of in 1882. cotton factoryhall in theFinlayson countries waslit light intheNor A TER ISANESSENTIAL ith 215,000 Tampere is between isthmus ocated onan ved. esh dic ditionally servedwithlingonberryjam. sausage called market andtrythelocalspecialty, ablood ment stores. Foodiesshouldgotothe center andStockmannSokosdepart- their waytotheKoskikeskusshopping Tampere MarketHall.Shopperswillfind see spotsare theFinlayson area and Museum ofthe Year Award. commendation inthe2012Eur “Tampere 1918,”whichreceived aspecial bition abouttheFinnishCivilWar, and theDollMuseum,aswellanexhi Hockey HallofFame,theShoeMuseum each yearandisalsohometotheFinnish Centre Vapriikki putsupnewexhibitions museums inTampere aswell.Museum Sara Hildén Art MuseumatSärkänniemi. 2012. Thoseinterested in art willenjoy Land themeparkintheworld,opened the veryfirst Angry Bir Park, whichalsoincludes Särkänniemi Adventure Näsinneula islocatedin full circle in45minutes. ing experience.Itrevolves a unique,rotating fine-din- the topoftoweroffers Restaurant Näsinneulaat the landmarkofTampere. is theplacetogo.Ittruly higher, Näsinneulatower writer. Finnish working-class T W There are severalotherattractive If oneaimseven ampere Cathedralisrevered as alking inthecitycenter, must- mustamakkara CITY OF TAMPERE /JARIMÄKINENFORAIM ds , whichistra- opean - a visit. and RajaporttiSaunaare definitelyworth Rauhaniemi BeachandPublicSaunas with amore fleshlyexperience, famous foritsfrescoes. To counterbalance al romantic architecture. Itisparticularly the ultimatemonumentofFinnishnation- THE 168-METERHIGHNÄSINNEULA Session 1812.30–13.00ClosingConvocation Session 1710.45–12.15Panels VI and VII Session 169.00–10.30 Work-in-Progress Session VI Session 1519.00–21.00ConferenceBanquet(perreservation) Session 1417.00–18.00President’s Address & Annual BusinessMtg Session 1315.15–16.45 Work-in-Progress Session V SessionII Session 1213.30–15.00ResearchPaper 12.15–13.30 Session 1112.15–13.30 Working Lunch: Lunch Session 1010.45–12.15PanelsIV(President’s Panel)andPanel V 7.30–8.30 Breakfast for Your Session 99.00–10.30 Thoughts (perreservation) Work-in-Progress SessionIVandPanelIII Session 8 Session 7 18.30 –20.00ConferenceReception Session 7 16.45–18.15PanelI(ConferenceHost’s Panel) andPanelII Session 6 15.00 –16.30 Work-in-Progress SessionsIIandIII Session 5 12.00–13.15 SessionI Session 413.15–14.45ResearchPaper Lunch Speech 11.00 –12.00Keynote Session 3 9.15–10.45 Work-in-Progress SessionI Session 2 9.00–9.15 Welcome andIntroduction Session 1 Sign in8.00–9.00Pickupconferencematerials eso 16.00–18.00ExecutiveCommitteeMeeting Session 0 S F T W I A r h SÄRKÄNNIEMI. INTHEDISTANCE ARETHEMANY a L i e d u t J u d a r S r s n y d d - e , a 8 a s 1 y y d 7 , , C a 1 1 y M O 8 , 6 o N a 1 M y M F 5 E a 2 a IEAYJUNLS AL2012 JOURNALISM/FALL LITERARY M R y 0 y E 1 a 2 2 N y 3 0 0 C 1 2 1 ROUNDED BYTHEAMUSEMENTSOF E 3 0 3 1 S 3 C H E D U L E S U M M LAKES OFTHEREGION. A R LJS Y Staff Meeting Staff
TOWER ISSUR- SÄRKÄNNIEMI ADVENTURE PARK ADVENTURE SÄRKÄNNIEMI THE NEWSLETTER OF THE IALJS
CALL FOR PAPERS International Association for Literary Journalism Studies
“Literary Journalism: Text and Context” The Eighth International Conference for Literary Journalism Studies (IALJS-8)
University of Tampere School of Communication, Media and Theatre Tampere, Finland
16-18 May 2013
The International Association for Literary Journalism Studies invites submissions of original research papers, abstracts for research in progress and proposals for panels on Literary Journalism for the IALJS annual convention on 16-18 May 2013. The conference will be held at the University of Tampere in Tampere, Finland.
The conference hopes to be a forum for scholarly work of both breadth and depth in the field of literary journalism, and all research methodologies are welcome, as are research on all aspects of literary journalism and/or literary reportage. For the purpose of scholarly delineation, our definition of literary journalism is "journalism as literature" rather than "journalism about literature." The association especially hopes to receive papers related to the general conference theme, “Literary Journalism: Text and Context." All submissions must be in English.
The International Association for Literary Journalism Studies is a multi-disciplinary learned society whose essential purpose is the encouragement and improvement of scholarly research and education in Literary Journalism. As an association in a relatively recently defined field of academic study, it is our agreed intent to be both explicitly inclusive and warmly supportive of a variety of scholarly approaches.
Details of the programs of previous annual meetings can be found at: http://www.ialjs.org/?page_id=33
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LITERARY JOURNALISM / FALL 2012 PAGE 3 THE NEWSLETTER OF THE IALJS
CALL FOR PAPERS Continued from previous page
I. GUIDELINES FOR RESEARCH PAPERS
Submitted research papers should not exceed 7,500 words, or about 25 double-spaced pages, plus endnotes. Please regard this as an upper limit; shorter papers are certainly welcome. Endnotes and bibliographic citations should follow the Chicago Manual of Style. Papers may not be simultaneously submitted to any other conferences. Papers previously published, presented, accepted or under review are ineligible. Only one paper per author will be accepted for presentation in the conference’s research sessions, and at least one author for each paper must be at the convention in order to present the paper. If accepted, each paper presenter at a conference Research Session may be allotted no more than 15 minutes. To be considered, please observe the following guidelines: (a) Submission by e-mail attachment in MS Word is required. No other format or faxes or postal mail submissions will be accepted. (b) Include one separate title page containing title, author/s, affiliation/s, and the address, phone, fax, and e-mail of the lead author. (c) Also include a second title page containing only the paper’s title and the paper’s abstract. The abstract should be approximately 250 words in length. (d) Your name and affiliation should not appear anywhere in the paper [this information will only appear on the first title page; see (b) above].
II. GUIDELINES FOR WORK-IN-PROGRESS PRESENTATIONS (ABSTRACTS)
Submitted abstracts for Work-in-Progress sessions should not exceed 250 words. If accepted, each presenter at a conference Work-in-Progress session may be allotted no more than 10 minutes. To be considered, please observe the following guidelines: (a) Submission by e-mail attachment using MS Word is required. No other format or faxes or postal mail submissions will be accepted. (b) Include one separate title page containing title, author/s, affiliation/s, and the address, phone, fax and e-mail of the lead author. (c) Also include a second page containing only the work’s title and the actual abstract of the work-in-progress. The abstract should be approximately 250 words in length.
III. GUIDELINES FOR PROPOSALS FOR PANELS
(a) Submission by e-mail attachment in MS Word is required. No other format or faxes or postal mail submissions will be accepted. (b) Panel proposals should contain the panel title, possible participants and their affiliation and e-mail addresses, and a description of the panel’s subject. The description should be approximately 250 words in length. (c) Panels are encouraged on any topic related to the study, teaching or practice of literary journalism. See http://www.ialjs.org/?page_id=21.
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CALL FOR PAPERS Continued from previous page
IV. EVALUATION CRITERIA, DEADLINES AND CONTACT INFORMATION
All research paper submissions will be evaluated on originality and importance of topic; literature review; clarity of research purpose; focus; use of original and primary sources and how they support the paper’s purpose and conclusions; writing quality and organization; and the degree to which the paper contributes to the study of literary journalism. Similarly, abstracts of works-in-progress and panel proposals will be evaluated on the degree to which they contribute to the study of literary journalism. All submissions will be blind-juried, and submissions from students as well as faculty are encouraged.
Please submit research papers or abstracts of works-in-progress presentations to:
Prof. Isabel Meuret, Université Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium) 2013 IALJS-8 Research Chair; e-mail:
Please submit proposals for panels to:
Prof. Rob Alexander, Brock University (Canada) 2013 IALJS-8 Program Co-Chair; e-mail:
Deadline for all submissions: No later than 1 December 2012
For more information regarding the conference or the association, please go to http://www.ialjs.org or contact:
Prof. Bill Reynolds, Ryerson University (Canada) IALJS President; e-mail:
Prof,. Norman Sims, University of Massachusetts – Amherst (U.S.A.) IALJS First Vice President; e-mail:
Prof. Isabel Soares, Technical University Lisbon (Portugal) IALJS Second Vice President; e-mail:
Prof. David Abrahamson, Northwestern University (U.S.A.) IALJS Secretary-Treasurer; e-mail:
Prof. Alice Trindade, Technical University Lisbon (Portugal) IALJS Immediate Past President President; e-mail:
Prof. John S. Bak, Nancy-Université (France) Founding IALJS President; e-mail: [email protected]>
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LITERARY JOURNALISM / FALL 2012 PAGE 5 THE NEWSLETTER OF THE IALJS
2012 IALJS CONVENTION REGISTRATION FORM 16-18 May 2013 University of Tampere, School of Communication, Media and Theatre, Tampere, Finland
Please indicate 1.a. PRE-REGISTRATION FEES (MUST BE POSTMARKED ON OR BEFORE 31 MARCH 2013) the applicable amounts: Current IALJS Member – $120 (rate for those already having paid their 2013 dues) Current IALJS Member retired – $100 (rate for those already having paid their 2013 dues) Student with research paper on program – $30 (Includes a one-year IALJS membership) Student without paper on program – $60 (Includes a one-year IALJS membership) Non-IALJS member – $170 (Includes a one-year IALJS membership) Spouse/Partner – $50 (This fee is required only if a spouse will be attending scheduled research sessions and/or panels)
1.b. REGISTRATION FEES POSTMARKED AFTER 31 MARCH 2013 (Note: Meals & special events may not be available to those who register after 31 March 2013)
Current IALJS Member – $155 (rate for those already having paid their 2013 dues) Current IALJS Member retired – $135 (rate for those already having paid their 2013 dues) Student with research paper on program – $65 (Includes a one-year IALJS membership) Student without paper on program – $95 (Includes a one-year IALJS membership) Non-IALJS member – $205 (Includes a one-year IALJS membership) Spouse/Partner – $85 (This fee is required only if a spouse will be attending scheduled research sessions and/or panels)
1.c. ON-SITE REGISTRATION – $180 for IALJS members, $230 for non-members (includes a one-year IALJS membership). NOTE: Meals & special events may not be available to those who register on site.
2. SPECIAL EVENTS: Please indicate the number of meals required next to each item below Number of meals needed: Regular Vegetarian "Breakfast for Your Thoughts" (Friday morning) Number attending x $20* Conference Banquet (Friday evening) Number attending x $60 *NOTE: Breakfast on Friday is FREE to students, who, in a collegial IALJS tradition, have a chance to present their work and career goals to the IALJS's faculty members. Make registration checks payable to “IALJS” TOTAL ENCLOSED:
BILL REYNOLDS, For a reservation at the convention hotel, Please return completed form IALJS President Hotel Scandic Tampere City, BEFORE APRIL 30: with a check or bank transfer School of Journalism payable to “IALJS” to >>> Ryerson University 350 Victoria St., IALJS room rates – Single: 113 / Double: 123 (tax + breakfast incl) € € Toronto, Ontario M5B 2K3 Phone: +358-3-2446-111 or e-mail: [email protected] To register on-line via PayPal, CANADA see “Conference Payments” at Tel: +01-416-979-5000 x6294 Note: no web reservation! WWW.IALJS.ORG Fax: +01-416-979-5216 IALJS reservation code: IAL140513 [email protected]
3. REGISTRATION INFO Name: Address/Department School/University City, State, Zip, Country Phone E-mail Address Name of Spouse (if attending)
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Call for Papers for Special Issue on African American Literary Journalism
Literary Journalism Studies, a peer-reviewed journal sponsored by the International Association for Literary Journalism Studies (IALJS), invites sub- missions for a special issue on African American literary journalism of the nineteenth, twentieth and/or twenty-first centuries. Working with a broad def- inition of literary journalism as fact-based, timely prose that employs literary technique (symbolism, dialogue, scene construction, character development, narrative structure, etc.), we are interested in manuscripts of 5,000 to 8,000 words that investigate African American-controlled venues hospitable to liter- ary journalism as well as individual writers and their texts. While we welcome scholarship on the literary journalism of academics, poets and fiction writers such as W. E. B. Du Bois, Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, Alice Childress and James Baldwin, we are also seeking manuscripts that focus on writers who primarily or even exclusively were or are journalists. Please direct questions and send submissions to Roberta S. Maguire
Published by the International Association for Literary Journalism Studies
LITERARY JOURNALISM / FALL 2012 PAGE 7 THE NEWSLETTER OF THE IALJS
Peter Lang Publishing Broadway, New York, NY 10006 (800) 770-5264, [email protected] $46.95 (paper), ISBN 978-1-4331-1867-8
PAGE 8 LITERARY JOURNALISM / FALL 2012 THE NEWSLETTER OF THE IALJS
LITERARY JOURNALISM IN NEW ZEALAND One stand-out and a number of other promising possibilities. By Nikki Hessell, Victoria University of Wellington (New Zealand) t’s come up a few times in recent con- Montana Estates Essay Series contains probably start versations with colleagues and inter- essays on topics such as “On Reading” with Edmond if ested friends. You mention that you and “How to Live Elsewhere” by some of we are looking work on literary journalism, and people the most acclaimed scholars, poets and for contempo- Iare always intrigued. But after a while, journalists in the country. Although it is rary exponents. the conversation turns back to the same not literary journalism of the sort we tend New questions: to focus on in IALJS, works such as these Zealand literary Who are New nevertheless demonstrate the capacity of journalism is Zealand’s literary New Zealand writers to produce exquisite also hampered by the same constraints journalists? short essays. that plague the genre everywhere: a lack Where is our A second answer is that it lies of certainty about what the term means; a body of literary with Martin Edmond. In the aforemen- lack of willingness by likely candidates journalism, past tioned conversations with colleagues and for inclusion in such a category to or present? Why other interested parties about literary embrace the term “literary journalism” or does such a popu- journalism in New Zealand, someone any of the related terms we sometimes AROUND THE lar, prominent inevitably shrugs and says “What about apply to the genre; and a lack of financial and important Martin Edmond?” And they’re right. support in the journalism industry, the WORLD contemporary academy or the broader world of letters form of journalis- for the long-term commitment that such tic writing not We should writing requires. have its exponents here in New Zealand? But the raw material is there for These are puzzling questions. think creatively about us to begin to think about a tradition of There is certainly no shortage of respect writers whose New Zealand literary journalism. Let’s or commercial success for nonfiction writ- works might join this begin by giving Edmond’s work the ers in New Zealand. The categories for new canon attention it deserves. Let’s make sure the our premier literary prizes, the New journalism by some of our major literary Zealand Post Book Awards, are fiction, and foundational figures (Hyde, the nov- poetry, general nonfiction and illustrated elist John Mulgan, the poet Eileen nonfiction, suggesting that there is a large Duggan) is being taught in the universi- body of credible nonfiction work being Edmond is our best approxima- ties alongside their literary works. produced in this country. Since 2010, a tion of a bona fide literary journalist. His Let’s think creatively about the supreme award has been given to one of elegant and erudite work on travel and other writers whose works might produc- the four winners in the different cate- the Pacific, as well as on New Zealand’s tively join this new canon: the prolific gories; in both 2010 and 2011, this award artistic and cultural heritage, are the clos- left-wing journalist Bruce Jesson? The was won by the winner of the general est thing we have to a sustained body of hugely popular and subversive columnist nonfiction category. work in the genre of long-form literary Steve Braunias? o And yet the popularity of non- journalism. In any case, let’s begin. fiction broadly in New Zealand does not There are details, seem to have translated into a recogniz- however, that make this able field. A Google search for the term categorization difficult. “New Zealand Literary Journalism”—an One is the fact that he unscientific but nevertheless revealing writes in a number of measure of a concept’s penetration and genres and thus cannot recognizability—reveals only one entry: (and probably would not my own chapter on the 1930s writer and wish to be) contained journalist Robin Hyde from the 2011 within the label “literary scholarly anthology, Literary Journalism journalist.” Another is the Across the Globe: Journalistic Traditions and fact—a perennial chal- Transnational Influences. So the question lenge for questions of remains: Where is New Zealand’s literary national identity in other journalism? contexts—that he has not The first answer might be that it lived in New Zealand for lies in fugitive pieces. The marvelous 30 years. But we should
LITERARY JOURNALISM / FALL 2012 PAGE 9 THE NEWSLETTER OF THE IALJS
LITERARY JOURNALISM IN THREE DIMENSIONS Cultural borders, mental boundaries and the impenetrable barrier of time. By Norman Sims, University of Massachusetts - Amherst (U.S.A.)
here’s a theory in earthquake prediction that says quakes nation to nation. I’d like to broaden the discussion of interna- on the edges of a fault system feed energy into other near- tional literary journalism a bit to approach it from the perspec- by faults. In international literary journalism, we can see tive of writers who cross borders. I’ll call it cross-borderland quakes in one place and aftershocks in other countries. literary journalism to distinguish from the national forms. For T A classic example was the influence in the 1960s and me, the terms “international” or “transnational” suggest bor- 1970s of the New Journalism in the United States on literary der crossings not so much by readers as by the journalists journalism in Canada, a nearby fault themselves. system connected by language and culture. Bill Reynolds, who is the first dimension of cross-borderland literary journalism president of the International involves what we expect from the term—critical differ- Association for Literary Journalism ences encountered in crossing geographical, language Studies (IALJS) as of May 2012, has and cultural borders. Geographical borders may be the least written about how the Canadian New Aimportant crossing. I want to suggest that international literary Journalism of Tom Hedley differed journalism may not require crossing geographical borders at from the variety found in the United all. Language and culture do not always respect lines drawn 1 States, for example. on a map. The question of the relationship of language and The atten- human thought goes back centuries. In a INTERPRETIVE tion to interna- recent article, Lera Boroditsky, a professor ESSAY tional literary Cultural of psychology at Stanford University and journalism has editor-in-chief of the journal Frontiers in led to two recent differences may account Cultural Psychology, said, “It turns out that 2 books and the creation of the IALJS. These for more variations if you change how people talk, that studies show how quakes at the source, in literary journalism than changes how they think. If people learn generally the United States, have shaken another language, they inadvertently also geographic ones 3 other approaches, but they also demon- learn a new way of looking at the world.” strate that alternative approaches have In another paper, she reported test results grown up independently. In those discus- showing that in language cultures where sions, literary journalism means a kind of the word “bridge” is a masculine noun, long-form narrative journalism done with test subjects used words such as strong, literary ambitions, not journalism about literature. sturdy and towering to describe bridges. Test subjects from lan- Typically, literary journalism involves immersion guage cultures where “bridge” is a feminine noun used words 4 reporting for a year or longer, the active presence of the author such as beautiful, elegant and slender. in the narrative, and it uses the tools long associated only with Can some topics be more elaborately explored in fiction, such as elaborate structures, characterization and even French than in English? The question goes back at least to the symbolism, but with the added requirement of accuracy. Sapir–Whorf hypothesis that language affects how we perceive Literary journalism most often deals with ordinary people the world. The thesis is controversial but widely accepted to rather than celebrities or politicians. Such long-form narratives some degree. Scholarly papers at IALJS have identified works stand in contrast to the relatively hurried standard forms of of literary journalism in China and Brazil that might be consid- journalism. In some eras and in some countries, literary journal- ered as distinctive because of language differences. ism is also known as reportage. Cultural differences account for more variations in Journalism in general is the widest-read form of liter- literary journalism than differences stemming from geography. ary production in North American cultures, and that may be Culture is not always the same distinction as language because true elsewhere. Literary journalism may be the deepest form of people speaking the same language can be of different cultures, journalism and the most rare. It deserves analysis as a lasting such as American Southerners and New Englanders. In literary literary production. journalism texts, cultural differences in form and substance can In what follows, I’d like to look at literary journalism often be observed. A Spanish book, The Anatomy of a Moment from the perspective of writers who cross borders in three by Javier Cercas (Bloomsbury U.S.A. 2011, translated by Anne dimensions—cultural borders, mental boundaries and the time McLean), deals with a parliamentary crisis in a form that incor- barrier. Experimental border crossing can result in innovation. porates fiction and would be shunned by most North Readers find differences in literary journalism that originates in American writers. Similarly, Colombian writer Gabriel García Russia, Turkey, South Africa, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, China and elsewhere as the form varies from Continued on next page
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THREE DIMENSIONS Continued from previous page
Márquez’s The Story of the Ship-Wrecked ing within their nation.) When Kramer writes from Europe, she is Sailor (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1986, My favorite example for this sec- in no less of an international zone than translated by Randolph Hogan) and his ond dimension is Jane Kramer’s book The she found in the Texas panhandle. other works of magical realism have few Last Cowboy (New York: Harper & Row, direct parallels in the history of North 1977). Kramer went to Vassar College and third dimension is time. It’s been American literary journalism. García earned a Master's degree in English at said that time travel is easy. Just Márquez, usually thought of as a novelist, Columbia University. She has divided her wait a while and you’ve traveled is considered a journalist and a literary time for 30 years between Europe and in time. Going backwards is the problem. journalist in Colombia. Political condi- New York. She writes the Letter from AThe past involves a border that none of us tions sometimes creep into the cultural Europe pieces for the New Yorker. Highly can cross. With effort, we can cross the discussion, especially when analyzing educated, sophisticated, urbane, probably geographical and cultural boundaries, as how writers laid the message between the wealthy and wonderfully articulate, well as the gender, racial or class borders. lines in Chinese and Polish literary jour- Kramer has close connections with the lit- But none of us can move backward in 5 nalism. erary, feminist and social elites in both time, no matter how real it seems. We are I would argue that we don’t New York and Europe. influenced by previous generations, but have “international” literary journalism In The Last Cowboy, however, she we cannot talk with them in many cir- unless a cultural or language border has crossed the borders of gender and class cumstances. been crossed. In North America, for that are often hidden in American life. One example here is the book example, before we label Canadian and And Their Children After Them: The Legacy U.S. literary journalism as cross-border- of Let Us Now Praise Famous Men: James land or international, there should be cul- Blanton told Kramer stories his Agee, Walker Evans and the Rise and Fall of tural differences. Whether we agree or wife hadn’t heard Cotton in the South by Dale Maharidge disagree about the language hypothesis, and spoke of troubles that and Michael Williamson. Their book was the whole point of studying “internation- a direct time-connected follow-up to Let al” or “transnational” literary journalism became the Us Now Praise Famous Men (1941). Other is to discover the kinds of differences that dramatic climax of the book examples that stretch across time can be come from geographical, language or cul- seen in the way the London slums in the tural border crossings. 1800s were treated, and the way writers such as Jacob Riis and the Chicago School he second dimension of cross-bor- sociologists looked at the tenement resi- derland literary journalism involves Her subject, whom she called Henry dents in New York or Chicago in the the mental borderlands of gender, Blanton, was a ranch operator—a cow- 1890s and in the Progressive Era, and then race and class. Concepts of race, gender boy—in the Texas panhandle. Blanton at how the underclass is covered today. Tand class seem to carry implications was emotionally closed off, too uncom- The third dimension of border- beyond cultural or geographical bound- fortable to talk with his wife about his crossing literary journalism that I’ve been aries. difficulties in dealing with a landlord and studying lately is historical writing done An example of writing across other problems. The husband and wife, by literary journalists. The first example is class and racial lines is Adrian Nicole having lived for years in a cabin on the Michael and Elizabeth Norman’s Tears in LeBlanc’s Random Family: Love, Drugs, range that didn’t have running water or the Darkness: The Story of the Bataan Death Trouble and Coming of Age in the Bronx electricity, were in a different class from March and Its Aftermath (New York: Farrar, (New York: Scribner, 2004), which is Kramer. They lived at a great distance Straus and Giroux, 2009). They told the about the wives and girlfriends of drug from any neighbors and had none of the story—and it was a story—of the first big dealers. LeBlanc did not cross gender sophistication, education, wealth or liter- campaign of WWII for Americans in the lines, but the class and racial lines are ary connections of Kramer. Philippines, which resulted in the largest sharply drawn. Examples of writing Yet Henry Blanton opened up to surrender of U.S. troops ever. The central across racial lines also include William Kramer. He told her stories that his wife character, Ben Steele, a Wyoming cowboy, Finnegan, Jonny Steinberg and Rian hadn’t heard, and spoke of the troubles was captured on the Bataan peninsula, Malan in South Africa. Or V.S. Naipaul, a with his landlord that became the dra- kept under horrible conditions as a pris- British-educated native of Trinidad and matic climax of the book. The Last Cowboy oner of war, forced to work slave labor Tobago, writing in A Turn in the South is one of the most remarkable pieces of and sleep outside. Late in the war he was (New York: Knopf, 1989) about the South cross-borderland literary journalism I put on ship for transport to Japan. in the United States. (Finnegan and have ever seen—precisely because American aircraft bombed and sank his Naipaul also crossed geographical bor- Kramer crossed gender and class borders. ders, but Steinberg and Malan were writ- And yet she never left the United States. Continued on Page 13
LITERARY JOURNALISM / FALL 2012 PAGE 11 THE NEWSLETTER OF THE IALJS
F AC U L D AD E D E L ET R A S U N I V ER S I D A D E D OP O R TO
Relational Forms II Ex certa scientia: Literature, Science and the Arts –An International Conference
13-15 December 2012 Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto
Confirmed keynote speakers:
George Rousseau (University of Oxford) Hélia Correia (novelist, Lisbon)
(other guest speakers to be confirmed soon)
This conference aims to respond to the intense interest that interdisciplinary and intermedial designs have obtained in many of the areas of study pertaining not only to literature and the arts but also to the sciences. It will lay a significant emphasis on the ways in which the discourses of literature, film, painting, music and other such cultural practices become interwoven with the discourses of science; and, conversely, on the ways in which the practices and theories of science reach beyond their more conventional boundaries and into the fields of artistic creativity and the humanities.
The conference will welcome contributions focusing on specific instances of interdisciplinarity and intermediality within the general context outlined above. It will also be open to studies that interrogate the theoretical and critical tools that have traditionally been applied to the study of intermedial relations and/or the relationships between the various relevant fields.
The organisers will welcome proposals for 20-minute papers in English on any of the areas mentioned above. Suggested (merely indicative) topics include: • literature, the visual arts and the sciences: fascinations and perplexities • the politics and poetics of discourse: scientific, literary, artistic • the institutional framework: academies in literature, the sciences and the arts Local Executive Committee: Rui Carvalho Homem Jorge Bastos da Silva Miguel Ramalhete Gomes Márcia Lemos
For further queries please contact: CETAPS – Centre for English, Translation and Anglo-Portuguese Studies Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto Via Panorâmica, s/n 4150-564 PORTO PORTUGAL Phone / Fax: +351-22-6077183 [email protected]
PAGE 12 LITERARY JOURNALISM / FALL 2012 THE NEWSLETTER OF THE IALJS
THREE DIMENSIONS Continued from Page 11 transport ships—twice. He survived and in the intervening years. Lemann’s book who sometimes hope to encapsulate the eventually reached Japan, where he was also crossed the borders of race, gender whole world in one book, could use that forced to work in a mine. From that loca- and class, but time is our subject here. comprehensive sense of topic to do some- tion, he was within sight of Hiroshima In crossing the dimension of thing different from ordinary journalists. 7 when the Bomb was dropped. He became time, Lemann said he encountered spe- This involves crossing the border with a major source and central figure in the cial problems that most literary journalists time: story. do not see and some things that historians “What was very important to me In writing that book, Beth and avoid. In the last sentence of the book, and continues to be—it’s the great cause of Michael Norman crossed the border of Lemann wrote: my career—is in a craft sense, how do you time. Like a lot of literary journalists who “Perhaps I’m displaying a reporter’s combine narrative and analysis? And not cross that border, they were uneasy and bias here, but it seemed to me that as rich in have them separated. It was very important to had some issues with traditional histori- information about the black migration and its me to find a way to deal with those themes ans. Michael told me, “I’m not sure what consequences as the archives and published without breaking out of the construct that this defines the word history. I do know that sources were, the memories of the people was a big, sweeping narrative history.” the classic historians abhor dealing with involved were even richer.” That note of big narrative by a live bodies. They’re really messy. They Most academic historians, he literary journalist who often devotes him- consider them incredibly unreliable. Our said, are uncomfortable going out and self to historical topics makes a nice place instincts as journalists are the exact oppo- doing interviews, even when rich source to stop. Literary journalists always tell site.…Our first instincts are to head for material is still available from people who stories. All three dimensions of border those warm bodies because we know crossing play a role in narrative: geogra- that’s where the passion is and where the phy, language and culture; gender, race 6 literature will come from.” Literary journalists and class; and time. They share a narra- A second example is Nicholas tive impulse. All these forms of cross-bor- Lemann’s The Promised Land: The Great always tell derland literary journalism depend on o Black Migration and How It Changed stories, and all three narrative, and on a well-told story. America (New York: Knopf, 1991). Lemann dimensions is the dean of the Columbia University play a role in the narrative Graduate School of Journalism and a staff NOTES writer at the New Yorker. He began The 1. Bill Reynolds, “Recovering the Peculiar Life Promised Land at a moment that would and Times of Tom Hedley and of Canadian amplify the twentieth century Great New Journalism,” in Literary Journalism Studies, Migration of African Americans from the experienced the times and the events. Vol. 1, No. 1, Spring 2009. 2. See Literary Journalism across the Globe, edited South to the North: the invention in 1944 And they have “little interest or no inter- by John S. Bak and Bill Reynolds (Amherst: of the mechanical cotton picker. The est in narrative as a form of professional University of Massachusetts Press, 2011), and device effectively ended the sharecropper practice.” The Journalistic Imagination, edited by Richard system that kept black farmers in a feudal Having criticized academic histo- Keeble and Sharon Wheeler (London and New arrangement. Many migrated north by rians, Lemann also made some comments York: Routledge, 2007). routes such as the Illinois Central railroad about traditional journalists who do histo- 3. “Lost in Translation” in the Wall Street out of Louisiana and Mississippi and ry, typically involving famous figures Journal, July 24, 2010. arrived in northern urban centers such as rather than ordinary people. He said: 4. “Shakespeare Had Roses All Wrong” by Robert Krulwich on NPR, April 6, 2009. See Chicago. The migration peaked in the “…many journalists who write his- also Lera Boroditsky, “How Does Our Lang- fifties and then declined after five or six tory would benefit from a little dose of under- uage Shape the Way we Think,” in What’s million people had made the move. standing the academic critique of them, as Next? Dispatches on the Future of Science, edited Lemann followed his central characters being something other than pure jealousy or by Max Brockman (New York: Vintage Books, from the Delta town of Clarksdale, lack of interest in writing. In particular, most 2009). Mississippi, to Chicago. Into the story of journalists who do this kind of presidential 5. See, for example, Peiqin Chen, “Social their families and lives, he blended an biography or military history, they are so into Movements and Chinese Literary Reportage,” analytical narrative of the poverty and the “great man” theory of history that they in Literary Journalism across the Globe, edited by John Bak and Bill Reynolds. race legislation enacted by the administra- don’t even know there is one and there’s been 6. Personal interview, 20 November 2009. tions of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. an argument about it for two hundred years. 7. Personal interview, 12 January 2011. Johnson and its impact on notorious It is assumed that there are these towering fig- Chicago ghetto projects such as the ures and history moves because they move it. Robert Taylor Homes and the Cabrini- They tend to be not very good at context. This essay first appeared in the March-April 2012 Green complex. At the end of the story, Academic historians are maybe too much the issue of World Literature Today
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IT WAS MUCH MORE THAN CYNICISM AND BASEBALL, Y’HEAR? An argument for Ring Lardner’s place in literary journalism history. By Amber Roessner, University of Tennessee in Knoxville (U.S.A.)
it down here a while, my friends, and I’ll give you the added a touch of literary flair and Greek mythology to the dope on this guy. Poor ol’, Ring Lardner. I don’t often feel sports page. Lardner would become fast friends with Rice as sorry for others or myself. I’ve learned that it only leads to he climbed up the ladder of success in the journalistic world. tears, and my great grandmother warned me about tears. By 1913, after stints at the Sporting News and the Boston S“They only give you a headache and make your face red,” she American, among others, Lardner managed to land one of the told me long ago. Despite my better instincts, though, I’ve most coveted positions in the nation at the Chicago Tribune. As come to feel a bit sorry for ol’ the successor of Hugh E. Keogh, he penned the daily column, Lardner. It’s hard not to. Like a char- “In the Wake of the News,” a collection of humorous tidbits acter in Downton Abbey, he was born about the national sports scene and all the day’s news. From into a life of privilege and exuber- this post, he also freelanced at some of the nation’s most pres- ance—albeit in Niles, Michigan not tigious magazines—the Saturday Evening Post, American Yorkshire, England and in the 1890s Magazine, Collier’s and Redbook, among others. not the 1910s. Lardner had begun experimenting with verse, humor, What’s to feel sorry about, you dialogue, dialect and character development from his earliest say? Well, give me a second; all in days, but in the teens, he perfected the use of these literary good time. As I was saying, like a devices and became one of the nation’s premiere short-story character in Downton Abbey, writers. For instance, his 10-part series for the Saturday Evening NARRATIVE Lardner’s inheri- Post—originally known as “A Busher’s ESSAY tance vanished Letters Home”—was so popular that before his very Media historians have Scribner’s published it as a collection eyes late in his often classified under the title You Know Me Al in 1916. youth. Consequently, he was forced to Sorry for him, you say? Well, if the work for a living. Lardner based on his cynical story had ended there, I wouldn’t have There are worse things, you might style and willngness felt one bit sorry for him. Just hold your say. Well, of course there are worse things. I to criticize the national pastime horses, I’m gettin’ there. Bit before I do, I don’t feel sorry for him because he had to want to give you a taste of his literary work for a living. In fact, if he hadn’t had to journalistic skill. In pieces like, “Tyrus, work, then I would have truly felt sorry for The Greatest of ‘Em All,” published in him. So, back to it then. June 1915 as one of a four-part series for Lardner, like so many boys of his American Magazine, Lardner masterfully era, developed a passion for baseball. It was a passion that he blended fact and fiction in his fable-like ode to Detroit Tiger couldn’t shake as he foundered in odd jobs—first as an office outfielder Ty Cobb, one of the greatest baseball icons of the boy in Chicago, then as an employee for Michigan Central Dead Ball Era (1900-1919). Railroad in 1901 and then as an engineering student at Armour Chroniclers of sports media history would later clas- Institute in Chicago, where he managed to fail all of his courses sify Lardner as one of those “Aw, nuts” writers, known for his except rhetoric, in 1902. cynical style and willingness to critique the national pasttime Still not sorry, you might say. Well, neither am I. He’s and its cast of characters. During this era, however, I would a spoiled rich boy forced to work and foundering. I’m pretty argue that ol’ Ring, like his friend Grant Rice, was still one of sure that I met a few of those in the frat houses at the those “gee whiz” guys—I say guys ‘cause in that day and age, University of Georgia along the way. sportswriting was largely a males-only preserve. As I was saying, baseball. Lardner had a passion for In this particular piece, Rice celebrates Cobb as a baseball, one that he couldn’t shake. So, it should come as no national hero. (Lardner also does a bit of herocrafting in its surprise that when opportunity knocked in the form of a job companion piece, “Matty,” published two months later. The offer from the South Bend Times in 1905, he took it (even though Cobb piece is the more interesting one, I would argue, because the sports reporter position was initially intended to be offered everyone in American culture loved New York Giants pitcher to his brother Rex, but that’s a different story). Christy Mathewson in the first two decades of the twentieth In 1905, Lardner was on his way to a storied career as century. He was lauded as the ‘Christian Gentleman,’ the a sports reporter. In those days, however, a job as a sports jour- penultimate hero as much for his character than for his nalist, though perhaps coveted by fans like Lardner, was not prowess on the mound. Cobb, on the other hand, was crafted highly vaunted by most sophisticated middle or upper-class by some sports journalists as a villain, a primitive trickster, men. It was largely the domain of uneducated drunkards and content only with winning no matter the cost, but once again, scalawags. Lardner, however, entered the profession at an opportune time, an era when college grads like Grantland Rice Continued on next page
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LARDNER Continued from previous page
that’s a different story). In both pieces, Lardner blended in which eight Back to the point, you say…was the fictitious dialogue of the veteran members of the I rambling? Why was this an example of major leaguer with facts and anecdotes Chicago White good literary journalism, you ask. about Cobb and Mathewson’s career. For Sox threw the Well, first of all, I’m not sure if instance, although Lardner took fictional World Series. I’m in the position to determine what is liberties with the above anecdote, the crux For years, or is not good literary journalism. of the story rings true. In summer 1914, Lardner had Besides, I think that those debates get hampered by minor injuries, Cobb’s bat- lived, breathed very similar to the ones over high and ting average had slumped to .225, well and promoted low culture, lords of the kitsch and bread behind league leaders Nap Lajoie and Joe the “American” and circuses in the first half of the twenti- Jackson. When Lardner pointed out the game, but it eth century, and I am no Dwight anomaly to Cobb in the presence of their was all for mutual friend and sportswriter Grantland MacDonald. I do, however, think that naught, he RING LARDNER these American Magazine pieces have Rice, Cobb vowed that he would soon believed. many characteristics of literary journal- bring it up to .325. By season’s end, his It’s at this point that you might ism, if, taking a cue from the batting average was .368, and he had begin to pity poor Ring, but don’t feel too International Association of Literary claimed his eighth consecutive league bat- bad for Lardner just yet. It was in the Journalism Studies, you consider it as ting title. aftermath of the Black Sox Scandal, as “journalism as literature.” In both pieces, Lardner’s fable-like ode to the Chicago Tribune columnist Westbrook Lardner uses literary devices like Pegler later said, that Lardner “went liter- metaphors, characterization and dialogue, ary.” featuring what Richard Orodenker called It was In 1919, Lardner quit his job at his “natural speech of the lowbrow.” after the Chicago the Chicago Tribune and began working as In “Tyrus, the Greatest of ‘Em Black Sox a syndicated columnist for Bell Syndicate, All,” Lardner’s fictional veteran Chicago owned by his good friend John H. White Sox player begs the squad’s rookie: scandal in 1919 that Larnder Wheeler. Over the next decade, he earned “Sit down here a while, kid, and I’ll give went literary an annual salary of $50,000 writing short you the dope on this guy. All of my life I stories for the likes of Cosmopolitan and been hearin’ about the slow, easy-goin’ the New Yorker. He also wrote plays like Southerner. Well, Ty’s easy-goin’ all “June Moon” and hung out with the right—like a million-dollar tourin’ car. nation’s literati—people like Scott and But, if Ty is slow, he must be kiddin’ us Georgia Peach celebrated his intelligence, Ella Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway and when he says he was born down South.” his skill and his work ethic. Cobb, Thomas Wolfe. His escape into the liter- Ol’ Ring, then, proceeded to tell Lardner wrote, did not need a lucky ary world, however, wouldn’t last long. some of most infamous anecdotes about horseshoe; he made his own luck. Later A lifetime of hard drinking final- Cobb—his start with the Royston known for his ability to humanize his ly caught up with Lardner in the late Rompers, his early struggles in the major subjects, Lardner does the opposite in this 1920s. He was battling tuberculosis, a leagues, his prowess on the base paths piece—he mythologizes Cobb, defending heart ailment and the cumulative effects and behind the plate. He also sprinkled in him against his critics and setting him on of alcoholism, and he was losing. On 25 some lesser-known stories. “Sometimes I a pedestal for Americans to emulate. September 1933, he finally succumbed to pretty near think they’s nothin’ he could- Through baseball heroes like Cobb and death after suffering from a heart attack. n’t do if he really set out to do it,” Mathewson, Lardner contended, He was 48. Lardner’s fictional Sox player told the Americans could learn important cultural Lardner’s early death before his rookie. “Before you joined the club, some truths—lessons about what it meant to be time is, of course, sad to any lover of liter- o’ the boys was kiddin’ him over to successful in American culture. ature and humanity, but it’s not the rea- Detroit. Callahan was tellin’ me about it. Lardner’s love affair with base- son that I find Lardner’s story so heart- Cobb hadn’t started hittin’. One o’ the ball and his faith in the sport to act as a breaking. Damn it, Roessner, you might players clipped the averages out o’ the cultural salve for what ailed the nation, say: Why do you find his story to be so paper and took ‘em to the park. He however, would soon be put into ques- poignant? showed the clippin’ to Ty.” Cobb, whose tion. After covering baseball on a daily Well, I suppose it’s because of all batting average had slipped to under basis for more than a decade, Lardner had of these things, but the most depressing .225, promised the player he’d reach .325 become disenchanted by the children’s detail is wrapped up in his legacy. In the in a week. “Well, it wasn’t,” Lardner’s fic- game and the men who played it. That wake of his death, the friends in his liter- tional Sox player told the newcomer. “No, disenchantment turned to disdain in the sir! It was .326.” aftermath of the 1919 Black Sox Scandal, Continued on next page
LITERARY JOURNALISM / FALL 2012 PAGE 15 THE NEWSLETTER OF THE IALJS
CALL FOR PAPERS FOR LARDNER Continued from previous page IALJS/ACLA SESSION IN TORONTO IN APRIL 2013 ary circle turned on Lardner. For instance, ily added.) Connery contended that IALJS is planning to propose a joint session at in “Ring,” published in the October 1933 Lardner’s work deserves a second look the 2013 annual meeting of the American issue of New Republic, Fitzgerald because it did what the best of literary Comparative Literature Association on 5-7 April expressed frustration that Ring didn’t live journalism does—it tells the stories of the 2013 at the University of Toronto in Toronto, up to his potential. Hemingway, who had lives of ordinary people in all of its Canada. The overall theme for the conference is at times emulated Lardner’s style in the drama. “Global Positioning Systems.” At once domesti- early 1920s, was harsher. He contended So that, my friends, is just what I cated and uncanny, world-mapping and world- that Lardner was as ignorant as the char- plan on doing. In the upcoming years, I changing, ubiquitous and invisible, GPS technol- acters that he brought to life. Ultimately, will reexamine the literary journalism of ogy resonates broadly both as an exemplary they condemned Lardner for wasting his Lardner and his closest friends, America’s metonym of contemporary technology and as a talents on baseball and for failing at the cadre of early twentieth century sports metaphor. Conference presenters are invited to ultimate test of all—writing the great journalists—after all, I would argue that extend the metaphor widely in space and time American novel. they were a major part of the twentieth and to non-technological realms. In particular, Other communities have dis- century’s first generation of literary jour- we are interested in the capacities of language o missed Lardner, too. In his 1996 biograph- nalists. and literature for world-making and global posi- ical dictionary of literary journalists, for tioning. The call for the IALJS/ACLA session will instance, Edd Applegate says that Lardner go out this fall. For more information, contact is better known as a sports journalist than Rob Alexander
PAGE 16 LITERARY JOURNALISM / FALL 2012 THE NEWSLETTER OF THE IALJS
Literary Journalism Studies Seeks Editor
Literary Journalism Studies, the official scholarly journal of the International Association for Literary Journalism Studies, seeks a new chief editor when the current one steps down after the Spring 2013 issue. Duties will commence with the Fall 2013 issue. LJS is an international, blind-reviewed journal open to a variety of different theoretical approaches. It publishes articles on the theory, history and pedagogy of literary journalism. The journal began publication in 2009.
The editor’s responsibilities include:
• Correspondence on behalf of the journal; • Receiving submissions and maintaining records of submissions; • Selecting readers and maintaining records of readers; • Developing contents of each issue; • Editing submissions; • Developing special issues and sections; • Supervising associate editors; • Mentoring less experienced scholars; • Having overall responsibility for coordinating publication of the journal.
The following are qualifications for a successful candidate:
• A knowledge of scholarship in the field; • A sensitivity to different national and scholarly perspectives; • A commitment to ensuring scholarly rigor; • A willingness to work with scholars for whom English is not their first language; • A Ph.D. is preferred, but an advanced terminal degree is required.
Additionally, it would be very helpful if the new editor is familiar with doing publication de-sign and desktop publishing.
Expressions of interest should be sent no later than 15 October 2012 to Alice Trindade, IALJS Publications Committee Chair, at
LITERARY JOURNALISM / FALL 2012 PAGE 17 THE NEWSLETTER OF THE IALJS
LITERARY JOURNALISM / FALL 2012 PAGE 18 THE NEWSLETTER OF THE IALJS
specific passages from writers as diverse SPECIAL STUDENT PANEL AT IALJS-7 as John Hersey, James Baldwin, Joan Didion, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc and David Experiencing six undergrads’ views of literary journalism. Foster Wallace. By Joshua Roiland, University of Notre Dame (U.S.A.) Midway through our panel hands started going up in the audience. recently moved, and in the process of pieces of literary journalism. And from We paused our discussion to take ques- packing and unpacking boxes I came that reading group formed a collection of tions. The Q & A proved to be the high- across dozens of papers I wrote as an six students—sophomores and juniors— light of the panel. The students handled undergraduate. They were cringe-worthy. who composed a panel proposal for questions from the leading scholars in the I Paper after paper, IALJS. The premise: to offer a “reverse field—the same people they had read in I rarely made it pedagogy” session where students talk class and cited in their papers—and past the first about their experiences reading and writ- offered thoughtful, specific answers. page. Scanning ing about literary journalism as under- Afterward we had a private lunch with those old docu- graduate non-majors. The session was several IALJS members, and the conversa- ments made me selected and generously given the desig- tion continued. appreciate all the nation of President’s Panel. But the neatest moment for me more the experi- Over the course of the next five actually came the night before the panel. ence I had at months these students augmented their After Thursday’s conference reception, IALJS-7 in academic schedules to prepare for the the students and I retired back to the Toronto, moderat- conference. We met regularly and devel- hotel for one last prep session. I met them ILAJS ing a panel dis- oped general themes for discussion. They in one of their rooms—and when I cussion of literary read—and reread—works of literary jour- walked in they were scattered about, and OUTREACH journalism by for- nalism. They took lots of notes. They there was paper everywhere. They were mer undergradu- memorized passages. In April we present- focused, rereading old notes from class, ate students of ed our panel at an undergraduate jotting down new notes for the next day. mine from Case Western Reserve Univer- research symposium on campus. And They asked each other questions, and sity (CWRU) in Cleveland, Ohio. then, off to Toronto. debated stories and authors. I occasional- From 2010-2012, I taught the The panel itself was an amazing ly chimed in with a thought or sugges- course “Literary Journalism in America” success. We discussed why they continue tion, but really I just sat and listened. For in the Seminar Approach to General to be interested in literary journalism. three hours we talked about literary jour- Education and Scholarship (SAGES) pro- They explained how reading and writing nalism, not as teacher and students, but gram at CWRU. SAGES classes are about the form has influenced their work as colleagues and friends. required general education courses that in other courses. We debated the pros and The IALJS panel was my last serve as the university’s proxy for compo- cons of transparency in reporting and official work at Case Western Reserve sition. Out of those classes grew an writing. And they speculated about the University. I moved because I have a new extracurricular reading group that met future of literary journalism in the digital job at a new university, which means new every other week to discuss selected age. With each topic, the students cited students and new experiences with them. I’m excited for this next chapter, but the previous one was a pretty great story. And to Alexis, Lisa, Nick, Bryden, Indira, and Anthony: my o infinite thanks.
NAMES AND MAJORS (FROM LEFT TO RIGHT): INDIRA SAMUELS (SOCI- OLOGY), LISA VIERS (ENGLISH & PHILOSO- PHY), NICK ROSSI (MECHANICAL ENGI- NEERING), BRYDEN SPE- VAK (PSYCHOLOGY & ENGLISH), ANTHONY GATTI (ECONOMICS & POLITICAL SCIENCE), AND ALEXIS PARISI (CHEMISTRY & ENGLISH).
LITERARY JOURNALISM / FALL 2012 PAGE 19 THE NEWSLETTER OF THE IALJS
Call for Submissions Literary Journalism Studies Published by the International Association for Literary Journalism Studies
Literary Journalism Studies, a peer-reviewed journal sponsored by the International Association for Literary Journalism Studies (IALJS), invites submissions of scholarly articles on literary journalism, which is also known as narrative journalism, narrative nonfiction, literary reportage, reportage literature, New Journalism and the nonfiction novel, as well as literary nonfiction that emphasizes cultural revelation. The jour- nal is international in scope and seeks submissions on the theory, history and pedagogy of literary journalism throughout the world. All disciplinary approaches are welcome.
To encourage an international dialogue, the journal is also willing to consider publishing short examples or excerpts of literary journalism accompanied by a scholarly gloss about a writer not widely known outside his or her country. The example or excerpt must be translated into English. The scholarly gloss must be between 1,500 and 2,500 words long and indicate why the example is important in the context of its national culture. Together, both the text and the gloss must 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.
E-mail submission (as an MS Word attachment) is mandatory, and submissions should be between 4,000 and 8,000 words in length, including notes. A cover page indicating the title of the paper, the author’s name and institutional affiliation, and contact information must accompany all submissions. The author’s name should not appear on the required 250-word abstract or on the paper itself, as all submissions will be blind reviewed. All submissions must be in English and follow the Chicago Manual of Style (Humanities). Submissions will be accepted on an ongoing basis. Contributors of articles selected for publication will receive one copy of the jour- nal. Copyright reverts to the contributor after publication with the provision that should the submission be sub- sequently republished reference is made to initial publication in Literary Journalism Studies. Please e-mail all submissions and/or related queries to:
John C. Hartsock, Ph.D. Editor, Literary Journalism Studies Department of Communication Studies State University of New York at Cortland Cortland, NY 13045-0900 U.S.A.
BOOK REVIEWS: The journal will include a book review section and invites short reviews of 1,000-2,000 words on both the scholarship of literary journalism and recent original works of literary journalism that deserve greater recognition among scholars. Book reviews are not blind reviewed but selected by the book review editor based on merit. Reviewers may suggest book review prospects or write the book review editors for suggestions. Usually reviewers will be responsible for obtaining their respective books. Book reviews and/or related queries should be e-mailed to Nancy L. Roberts at
PAGE 20 LITERARY JOURNALISM / FALL 2012 THE NEWSLETTER OF THE IALJS
2012 IALJS Membership Form
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Payments may be made via PayPal (and credit cards). Please see “Membership Payments” at http://www.ialjs.org. Please also fax completed form (above) to Bill Reynolds, IALJS Treasurer, School of Journalism, Ryerson University: +01-416-979-5216.
2. Make Check Payable, in U.S. Funds only, to “IALJS”; please mail check with completed form to:
Bill Reynolds, IALJS President School of Journalism, Ryerson University 350 Victoria Street Toronto, Ontario CANADA M5B 2K3
LITERARY JOURNALISM / FALL 2012 PAGE 21 THE NEWSLETTER OF THE IALJS
IALJS OFFICERS AND CHAIRS, 2012-2014
PRESIDENT Depatment of American Studies Bill Reynolds Notre Dame, IN 46556 Ryerson University U.S.A. School of Journalism, 350 Victoria St. h/+1-314-550-9156 Toronto, Ontario M5B 2K3 [email protected] CANADA w/+1-416-979-5000 x6294, h/+1-416-535-0892 CO-CHAIRS, CONFERENCE PLANNING COMMITTEE [email protected] Maria Lassila-Merisalo University of Jyväskylä FIRST VICE PRESIDENT Department of Communication Norman Sims 40700 Jyväskylä University of Massachusetts, Amherst FINLAND Commonwealth Honors College w/+358-50-525-5819 Amherst, MA 01003 [email protected] U.S.A. w/+1-413-545-5929, h/+1-413-774-2970, fax/+1-413-545-3880 David Abrahamson [email protected] Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism, 1845 Sheridan Rd. SECOND VICE PRESIDENT Evanston, IL 60208 Isabel Soares U.S.A. Technical University Lisbon w/+1-847-467-4159, h/+1-847-332-2223, fax/+1-847-332-1088 Instituto Superior de Ciências Sociais e Políticas [email protected] Pólo Universitário do Alto da Ajuda, Rua Almerindo Lessa 1300-663 Lisboa CHAIR, GRADUATE STUDENT COMMITTEE PORTUGAL Tobias Eberwein w/+351-213-619-430 Technische Universität Dortmund [email protected] Institut für Journalistik, Emil-Figge-Str. 50 D-44227 Dortmund SECRETARY-TREASURER GERMANY David Abrahamson w/+49-231-755-6987, h fax/+49-231-755-5583 Northwestern University [email protected] Medill School of Journalism, 1845 Sheridan Rd. Evanston, IL 60208 MEMBERS, NOMINATING COMMITTEE (includes FIRST VICE PRESIDENT) U.S.A. Isabelle Meuret w/+1-847-467-4159, h/+1-847-332-2223, fax/+1-847-332-1088 Université Libre de Bruxelles [email protected] Campus du Solbosch, ULB CP123, avenue F.D. Roosevelt 50 1050 Bruxelles CHAIR, RESEARCH COMMITTEE BELGIUM Isabelle Meuret w/+32-(0)2-650-4061, fax/+32-(0)2-650-2450 Université Libre de Bruxelles [email protected] Campus du Solbosch, ULB CP123, avenue F.D. Roosevelt 50 1050 Bruxelles Isabel Soares BELGIUM Technical University Lisbon w/+32-(0)2-650-4061, fax/+32-(0)2-650-2450 Instituto Superior de Ciências Sociais e Políticas [email protected] Pólo Universitário do Alto da Ajuda, Rua Almerindo Lessa 1300-663 Lisboa CHAIR, PROGRAM COMMITTEE PORTUGAL Rob Alexander w/+351-213-619-430 Brock University [email protected] Department of English Languages and Literature St. Catharines, Ontario L2S 3A1 WEBMASTER CANADA Nicholas Jackson w/+905-688-5550 x3886 205 R. St. NW, BSMT [email protected] Washington, DC 20001 U.S.A. CHAIR, PUBLICITY COMMITTEE cell/+1-815-341-8122 NIkki Hessell [email protected] Victoria University of Wellington School of English, Film, Theatre and Media Studies, PO Box 600 MEMBERS, AWARDS COMMITTEE Wellington 6140 Maria Lassila-Merisalo NEW ZEALAND University of Jyväskylä w/+64-4-479-7281 Department of Communication [email protected] 40700 Jyväskylä FINLAND CHAIR, ESSE ORGANIZING COMMITTEE w/+358-50-525-5819 John Bak [email protected] Université de Lorraine Centre de Télé-enseignement Universitaire (CTU) Norman Sims 42-44, avenue de la Liberation, B.P. 3397 University of Massachusetts, Amherst 54015 Nancy Commonwealth Honors College FRANCE Amherst, MA 01003 w/+33-(0)383-968-448, h/+33-(0)383-261-476, fax/+33-(0)383-968-449 U.S.A. [email protected] w/+1-413-545-5929, h/+1-413-774-2970, fax/+1-413-545-3880 [email protected] CHAIR, AEJMC ORGANIZING COMMITTEE Joshua Roiland University of Notre Dame Continued
PAGE 22 LITERARY JOURNALISM / FALL 2012 THE NEWSLETTER OF THE IALJS
IALJS OFFICERS AND CHAIRS, 2012-2014 Continued from previous page Isabel Soares Albany, NY 12222 Technical University Lisbon w/+1-518-442-4884, h/+1-518-583-8965, fax/+1-518-442-3884 Instituto Superior de Ciências Sociais e Políticas [email protected] Pólo Universitário do Alto da Ajuda, Rua Almerindo Lessa 1300-663 Lisboa MEMBERS, BOARD OF ADVISORS PORTUGAL John Bak (founding president) w/+351-213-619-430 Nancy-Université [email protected] Centre de Télé-enseignement Universitaire (CTU) 42-44, avenue de la Liberation, B.P. 3397 MEMBERS, PUBLICATION COMMITTEE 54015 Nancy Alice Donat Trindade (chair) FRANCE Technical University Lisbon w/+33-(0)383-968-448, h/+33-(0)383-261-476, fax/+33-(0)383-968-449 Instituto Superior de Ciências Sociais e Políticas [email protected] Pólo Universitário do Alto da Ajuda, Rua Almerindo Lessa 1300-663 Lisboa Thomas B. Connery PORTUGAL University of St. Thomas w/+351-213-619-430, fax/+351-213-619-442 Department of Communication and Journalism [email protected] 2115 Summit Ave. St. Paul, MN 55105 Rob Alexander U.S.A. Brock University w/+1-651-962-5265, h/+1-651-647-0048, fax/+1-651-962-6360 Department of English Languages and Literature [email protected] St. Catharines, Ontario L2S 3A1 CANADA Jo Bech-Karlsen w/+905-688-5550 x3886 BI Norwegian Business School [email protected] Department of Communication, Culture and Languages N-0442 Oslo NORWAY Thomas B. Connery w/+47-90-566-907 University of St. Thomas [email protected] Department of Communication and Journalism 2115 Summit Ave. Susan Greenberg St. Paul, MN 55105 University of Roehapmpton U.S.A. Department of English and Creative Writing, 80 Roehampton Lane w/+1-651-962-5265, h/+1-651-647-0048, fax/+1-651-962-6360 London SW15 5PH [email protected] UNITED KINGDOM w/+44-20-8392-3257 EDITOR, LITERARY JOURNALISM STUDIES [email protected] John Hartsock State University of New York College at Cortland Richard Lance Keeble Department of Communication Studies University of Lincoln Cortland, NY 13045 Lincoln School of Journalism, Brayford Pool U.S.A. Lincoln LN6 7TS w/+1-607-753-4103, h/+1-607-749-6756, fax/607-753-5970 UNITED KINGDOM [email protected] w/+44-(0)1522-886-940 [email protected] ASSOCIATE EDITORS, LITERARY JOURNALISM STUDIES William Dow Jenny McKay American University of Paris University of Sunderland Department of Comparative Literature Research Centre for Media and Cultural Studies 147, rue de Grenelle Sunderland SR6 0DD, Scotland 75007 Paris UNITED KINGDOM FRANCE w/+44-(0)191-515-2157 w/+33-1-4062-0600 ext 718 [email protected] [email protected] John J. Pauly Miles Maguire Marquette University University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh Office of the Provost, 106 O'Hara Hall Department of Journalism Milwaukee, WI 53201, w/+1-414-288-3588, cell/+1-414-313-7949 Oshkosh, WI 54901 fax/414-288-6400 U.S.A. [email protected] w/+1-920-424-7148 [email protected] Alice Donat Trindade Technical University Lisbon Roberta Maguire Instituto Superior de Ciências Sociais e Políticas University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh Pólo Universitário do Alto da Ajuda, Rua Almerindo Lessa University Honors Program / Department of English 1300-663 Lisboa Oshkosh, WI 54901 PORTUGAL U.S.A. w/+351-213-619-430, fax/+351-213-619-442 w/+1-920-424-7364 [email protected] [email protected] Doug Underwood BOOK REVIEW EDITOR, LITERARY JOURNALISM STUDIES University of Washington Nancy L. Roberts Department of Communication, Box 353740 University at Albany (SUNY) Seattle, WA 98195 Department of Communication U.S.A. 1400 Washington Avenue w/+1-206-685-9377 [email protected]
LITERARY JOURNALISM / FALL 2012 PAGE 23 THE NEWSLETTER OF THE IALJS
TEACHING WRITING AS IF IT CAN ILLUMINATE LIFE The goal is the discovery of some rare, essential quality in themselves. By David Swick, University of King's College (Canada) hen a paragraph is perfect, two aims. First, to have students a look at the course outline and a warn- when the meaning and sound believe—or at least be open to weighing ing that this work is demanding, we of words combine to create the evidence—that working hard in liter- enjoy almost an hour of creativity and power and beauty, and the tone rings ary journalism can bring a reward much laughter. We have fun with words. Wtrue—you may just have to control your- greater than a good mark or knowledge We play a game loved by my 15- self. I was once so in love with a para- for knowledge's sake. It can change them year-old British niece Jessie. Three books graph that I veered for the better, by giving them something are shown to the class; the titles, authors from the class plan everyone wants. and covers are all revealed. A student vol- to teach its every Etched in stone on the wall of unteer chooses one book and, making word and syllable the Library of Congress is this: “Reading sure no one can see, writes down its and punctuation maketh a full man, conference a ready opening line. Meanwhile, all the other mark. For an hour. man, and writing an exact man.” Writing students take a few minutes to write This is not advised: helps the mind, so given to turning down what they think the first line is—or Any students who mushy and dull, instead become sharp should be. The student volunteer then are still awake will and fine. Everyone wants to be more mixes up the submissions, and reads hate you. mindful, more articulate, more exact. One them all aloud—including the actual So we are in a way to achieve this is through writing opening line. Everyone then guesses tricky spot, eh? well. which one it is. TEACHING One of the joys of This isn’t just helpful in school, I Students get a chance to show teaching literary tell them. It’s good for life. their smarts; often they do this by making TIPS journalism is to And reading helps the mind, too. each other laugh. Just so you know: Joan help students grow Not just skimming while the stereo blares Didion opens “Miami” with “Havana to love great writ- and the TV is on, but careful reading— vanities come to dust in Miami”, not ing. Spending an hour on that one para- reading that is full and honest and “Drunk and sunburned, I wished every graph, I thought I was indulging them. engaged. Martha Gellhorn said to write month was March.” But no; proportion was called for. When for the senses; we need too to read with This work is demanding. In liter- teaching someone to climb, it's best not to all of our senses. ary journalism we ask a great deal of stu- start with a mountain. The second aim is to have stu- dents’ time and energy—and more. Some Many misadventures later I dents feel compelled to return, to want to rare, essential quality in themselves just o come to the first class of a new term with come to class. So after brief introductions, may be discovered.
LITERARY JOURNALISM THE NEWSLETTER OF THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR LITERARY JOURNALISM STUDIES FALL 2012 VOL. 6 NO. 4
PAGE 24 LITERARY JOURNALISM / FALL 2012