The Undeclared War between Journalism and Fiction: Journalists as Genre Benders in Literary History [Paperback]

In this volume, Doug Underwood asks whether much of what is now called literary journalism is, in fact, 'literary,' and whether it should rank with the great novels by such journalist-literary figures as Twain, Cather, and Hemingway, who believed that fiction was the better place for a realistic writer to express the important truths of life.1. Journalists Challenging the Boundaries of Journalism and Fiction 2. Artful Falsehoods and the Constraints of the Journalist's Life 3. Hemingway as Seeker of the 'Real Thing' and the Epistemology of Art 4. The Funhouse Mirror: Journalists Portraying Journalists in Their Fiction

Underwood's impressive study is a testament to the evolution of scholarship in artistic nonfiction . . . [He] deftly addresses several themes that are essential to ongoing conversations about American literature and literary journalism . . . [The book] embodies meticulous documentation, and challenges readers to reconsider the impact of the ongoing dance that occurs even now along the boundary between journalism and fiction. - American Journalist

Doug Underwood offers a fresh, accessible, and far-reaching investigation of the tensions between fact and fiction, reportage and novel-writing. In its exploration of how journalist - both in and out of the newsroom - engaged a 'story-telling impulse' in their quest for meaningful prose, The Undeclared War Between Journalism and Fiction stands as an important contribution to the interconnected studies of journalistic and literary histories. - Karen Roggenkamp, Associate Professor of English, Texas A&M University-Commerce, USA

Doug Underwood is a Professor in the department of Communications at the University of Washington, USA.