Blurring the Boundaries
Explorations to the Fringes of Nonfiction
Published on 1. March 2013
Book
Paperback/Softback
280 pages
978-0-8032-3648-6 (ISBN)
Description
Contemporary discussions on nonfiction are often riddled with questions about the boundaries between truth and memory, honesty and artifice, facts and lies. Just how much truth is in nonfiction? How much is a lie? Blurring the Boundaries sets out to answer such questions while simultaneously exploring the limits of the form.
This collection features twenty genre-bending essays from today's most renowned teachers and writers-including original work from Michael Martone, Marcia Aldrich, Dinty W. Moore, Lia Purpura, and Robin Hemley, among others. These essays experiment with structure, style, and subject matter, and each is accompanied by the writer's personal reflection on the work itself, illuminating his or her struggles along the way. As these innovative writers stretch the limits of genre, they take us with them, offering readers a front-row seat to an ever-evolving form.
Readers also receive a practical approach to craft thanks to the unique writing exercises provided by the writers themselves. Part groundbreaking nonfiction collection, part writing reference, Blurring the Boundaries serves as the ideal book for literary lovers and practitioners of the craft.
This collection features twenty genre-bending essays from today's most renowned teachers and writers-including original work from Michael Martone, Marcia Aldrich, Dinty W. Moore, Lia Purpura, and Robin Hemley, among others. These essays experiment with structure, style, and subject matter, and each is accompanied by the writer's personal reflection on the work itself, illuminating his or her struggles along the way. As these innovative writers stretch the limits of genre, they take us with them, offering readers a front-row seat to an ever-evolving form.
Readers also receive a practical approach to craft thanks to the unique writing exercises provided by the writers themselves. Part groundbreaking nonfiction collection, part writing reference, Blurring the Boundaries serves as the ideal book for literary lovers and practitioners of the craft.
Reviews / Votes
"Inspire[s] oblique imitation by simply collecting so much excellent writing in one place. . . . Well-suited to student-writers, which should include all of us, because [the essays] allow us to look under the hood and see the machinery that makes such moving creative nonfiction."-Fourth Genre"A nifty little book."-Paul L. Martin, Teacher's View
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Lincoln
United States
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
3 photographs, 3 figures
Dimensions
Height: 213 mm
Width: 137 mm
Thickness: 20 mm
Weight
340 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8032-3648-6 (9780803236486)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
05/2019
1st Edition
University of Nebraska Press
€36.99
Available for download
Person
B.J. Hollars is an assistant professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. He is the author of several books including From the Mouths of Dogs: What Our Pets Teach Us About Life, Death, and Being Human, Thirteen Loops: Race, Violence, The Last Lynching in America and Opening the Doors: The Desegregation of the University of Alabama and the Fight for Civil Rights in Tuscaloosa, and Flock Together: A Love Affair with Extinct Birds.
Content
Acknowledgments
B.J. Hollars
Introduction: Let the Blurring Begin
Marcia Aldrich
The Structure of Trouble
On "The Structure of Trouble": Fitting Function to Form
Monica Berlin
The Eighteenth Week
On "The Eighteenth Week": On Point of View
Eula Biss
Time and Distance Overcome
On "Time and Distance Overcome": The Rewards of Research
Ryan Boudinot
An Essay and a Story about Moetley Cruee
On "An Essay and a Story about Moetley Cruee": Knowing One's Audience and Making Your Dreams Come True
Ashley Butler
Dazzle
On "Dazzle": The Fluidity of Boundaries
Steven Church
Thirty Minutes to the End: An Essay to My Aunt Judy on the Occasion of the May 4, 2007, Tornado
On "Thirty Minutes to the End: An Essay to My Aunt Judy on the Occasion of the May 4, 2007, Tornado": Rethinking Genre
Stuart Dybek
Bait
On "Bait": The Hybridity of Form
Beth Ann Fennelly
Salvos into the World of Hummers
On "Salvos into the World of Hummers": The Convergence of Subject and Style
Robin Hemley
Flagpole Wedding, Coshocton, Ohio, 1946: An Essay on Process
On "Flagpole Wedding, Coshocton, Ohio, 1946: An Essay on Process": Transitioning from Notes to Novel
Naomi Kimbell
Whistling in the Dark
On "Whistling in the Dark": When Telling Lies Reveals Truth
Kim Dana Kupperman
71 Fragments for a Chronology of Possibility
On "71 Fragments for a Chronology of Possibility": An Eight-Fragment, Five-Paragraph Essay
Paul Maliszewski
Headaches
On "Headaches": Articulating the Inexplicable
Michael Martone
Asymmetry
On "Asymmetry": The Typewriter Is Not a Typewriter
Ander Monson
Outline toward a Theory of the Mine versus the Mind and the Harvard Outline
Outline toward a Reflection on the Outline and the Splitting of the Atom, I Mean the Colorado River, I Mean Our Collective Attentions, or Maybe I Mean the Brain, Which Is Mostly Forks, You Know
Dinty W. Moore
Four Essential Tips for Telling the Truth in Personal Memoir and Securing That Blockbuster Book Deal
On "Four Essential Tips for Telling the Truth . . .": Implementing Exaggeration and Humor
Susan Neville
A Visit to the Doctor
On "A Visit to the Doctor": The Omission of I
Brian Oliu
Contra
On "Contra": Nostalgia and the Shared Experience
Lia Purpura
Squirrel: An Ars Poetica
On "Squirrel: An Ars Poetica": Starting in One Place and Ending in Another
Wendy Rawlings
Why I Hope My Soap Opera Will Outlive Me and Other Confessions about a Dying Art
On "Why I Hope My Soap Opera Will Outlive Me and Other Confessions about a Dying Art": Breaking the Fourth Wall
Ryan Van Meter
Monster
On "Monster": The Immersion Effect
Writing Exercises
Contributors
B.J. Hollars
Introduction: Let the Blurring Begin
Marcia Aldrich
The Structure of Trouble
On "The Structure of Trouble": Fitting Function to Form
Monica Berlin
The Eighteenth Week
On "The Eighteenth Week": On Point of View
Eula Biss
Time and Distance Overcome
On "Time and Distance Overcome": The Rewards of Research
Ryan Boudinot
An Essay and a Story about Moetley Cruee
On "An Essay and a Story about Moetley Cruee": Knowing One's Audience and Making Your Dreams Come True
Ashley Butler
Dazzle
On "Dazzle": The Fluidity of Boundaries
Steven Church
Thirty Minutes to the End: An Essay to My Aunt Judy on the Occasion of the May 4, 2007, Tornado
On "Thirty Minutes to the End: An Essay to My Aunt Judy on the Occasion of the May 4, 2007, Tornado": Rethinking Genre
Stuart Dybek
Bait
On "Bait": The Hybridity of Form
Beth Ann Fennelly
Salvos into the World of Hummers
On "Salvos into the World of Hummers": The Convergence of Subject and Style
Robin Hemley
Flagpole Wedding, Coshocton, Ohio, 1946: An Essay on Process
On "Flagpole Wedding, Coshocton, Ohio, 1946: An Essay on Process": Transitioning from Notes to Novel
Naomi Kimbell
Whistling in the Dark
On "Whistling in the Dark": When Telling Lies Reveals Truth
Kim Dana Kupperman
71 Fragments for a Chronology of Possibility
On "71 Fragments for a Chronology of Possibility": An Eight-Fragment, Five-Paragraph Essay
Paul Maliszewski
Headaches
On "Headaches": Articulating the Inexplicable
Michael Martone
Asymmetry
On "Asymmetry": The Typewriter Is Not a Typewriter
Ander Monson
Outline toward a Theory of the Mine versus the Mind and the Harvard Outline
Outline toward a Reflection on the Outline and the Splitting of the Atom, I Mean the Colorado River, I Mean Our Collective Attentions, or Maybe I Mean the Brain, Which Is Mostly Forks, You Know
Dinty W. Moore
Four Essential Tips for Telling the Truth in Personal Memoir and Securing That Blockbuster Book Deal
On "Four Essential Tips for Telling the Truth . . .": Implementing Exaggeration and Humor
Susan Neville
A Visit to the Doctor
On "A Visit to the Doctor": The Omission of I
Brian Oliu
Contra
On "Contra": Nostalgia and the Shared Experience
Lia Purpura
Squirrel: An Ars Poetica
On "Squirrel: An Ars Poetica": Starting in One Place and Ending in Another
Wendy Rawlings
Why I Hope My Soap Opera Will Outlive Me and Other Confessions about a Dying Art
On "Why I Hope My Soap Opera Will Outlive Me and Other Confessions about a Dying Art": Breaking the Fourth Wall
Ryan Van Meter
Monster
On "Monster": The Immersion Effect
Writing Exercises
Contributors