| | Oprah's opened the can of worms again, with a new debate starting in the bookselling industry about where to categorize Night by Elie Weisel.
I would have agreed to remove it from the fiction list if the author hadn't admitted to fabricating some details. In spite of that issue, there is still room to engage in debate on a hypothetical level. Suppose there was no fictional information in this novel. The good question then isn't where the booksellers should place it, but why it would be categorized as nonfiction.
The statement was made that because of the "sophisticated narrative," the book was considered fiction. If it had been completely factual, why wouldn't the term "creative nonfiction" be used to classify it?
Could it be that the marketing managers in the bookselling industry still have not recognized a genre that has been alive and kicking in its current incarnation since the early 1970's?
Creative Nonfiction is nonfiction writing that employs the writing techniques previously limited to fiction and poetics. A factual sophisticated narrative is creative nonfiction - not a novel.
This concept is taught in many colleges and universities, and will hopefully begin trickling down to the public school systems. Regardless what is taught, the booksellers will still neglect to recognize the genre. Why?
The public doesn't ask for nonfiction books written using narrative or poetic styles with the term "creative nonfiction". Maybe the next time you go to a bookstore to purchase a memoir, or collection of true stories written like short fiction, you should ask the clerk where the creative nonfiction is shelved. |
| | Posted 1/18/2006 2:31 PM - 49 Views - 6 eProps - 3 comments
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