Operation “Fourth Genre Enlightenment”

Kelly Stratton
Mentor: Sean Prentiss

 BACKGROUND

            In high school, journalism was my passion, and I labored for hours each week as the editor to lay out papers and write articles, while what I really longed to do was write about things more creatively. I worshiped Dave Barry and the humorist column-littered ground he walked on. He was writing about real things, but in a creative (and hilarious) way. For years, I thought that if I wanted to write about myself and my experiences, I’d have to become a humor columnist.
            Then, in my senior year of high school, an honors English teacher announced a semester-long assignment called “Papers in a Pile”. This assignment required each student to write the equivalent of a short personal essay (what I would now call a creative non-fiction essay) each week. The writers were not allowed to put their names on the paper, which they would turn in to the teacher who would then redistribute them into small groups of students. The students would read the anonymous essays and pick their favorites, which then made it onto the ‘Wall of Fame’.
            I loved Papers in a Pile. It was an opportunity to express myself in writing that was creative, yet intelligent at the same time. And it wasn’t journalism! Out of the ten weeks the assignment was given, my paper was chosen for the wall nine times. I was in love with creative non-fiction writing—but I still didn’t know this fourth genre even existed.
            At the time when I thought of non-fiction, I thought of boring, dry, factual books—text books, research articles, reports. Non-fiction, to me, equaled not fiction, therefore not fun, which I think is the way most of my peers felt at the time. We were never exposed to the concept of creative non-fiction in high school. Though I was enrolled in honors courses all four years, and discovered the wonder of the personal essay, I still didn’t know it had a name. If I hadn’t drifted into a creative non-fiction class merely by chance (it was an evening class that fit into my schedule my first year of community college), I would probably not be an English major today.
            Even before I knew was it was, I was enamored with non-fiction and knew I wanted my project to explore it. I tossed around a lot of creative non-fiction related project ideas with Sean Prentiss, starting with the reasons that non-fiction is underrepresented in the literature curriculum on this campus. There are several fiction literature classes to choose from, as well as poetry, but no non-fiction as literature. I love to read non-fiction on my own time, but would be even more excited to take a literature class dedicated to it.
            Sean and I then discussed another topic that I’ve always felt strongly about, which is the English curriculum in high schools. Perhaps, I thought, if students were more exposed to non-fiction writing earlier in their learning careers, there would be a greater interest once they reached college.  

 CURRENT PROJECT

            I’ve identified the lack of education about creative non-fiction in high schools as a problem, and the goal of my project is to avenge that unawareness. I think it’s important that students are taught about all writing genres in high school: fiction, poetry, drama, and non-fiction.
            My current project is to do two things—the first is to identify and read important works out of the non-fiction canon that I haven’t yet been exposed to. I’m well-read in contemporary non-fiction, but know very little about anything that was written longer than fifty years ago.
            After reading, I will create a syllabus that can be used in high school English courses. The syllabus will help to fill in the open gaps and help students to understand what creative non-fiction is and why it’s important. I’ll include early as well as contemporary non-fiction works, both male and female authors, and try to represent different countries while offering students what my professors and I agree upon to be important works of non-fiction.
            After I develop the syllabus, I would like to go talk to a few different English teachers in the Moscow/Pullman area and see what they think about my ideas and syllabus—ask them questions about what they think are significant works that students should be reading, and if they are willing to incorporate any of my ideas into their current syllabus.
            And finally, I’ll ask the teachers to let me give a presentation to their English classes about creative non-fiction. Doing all of this will create exposure for the genre and give interested kids a jump start—something I wish I would have had in high school.

PLAN FOR THE NEXT TWO MONTHS

           First, I’m going to talk with various English professors on campus to create a reading list. I’m also going to ask them what they think about what I’ve identified as a lack of non-fiction exposure in the English major. My current list of instructors to talk to include Mary Blew, Ron McFarland, Walter Hesford, Kim Barnes, and Joy Passanante.
            After the syllabus is created, I will set up appointments to talk to high school English teachers in Moscow and Pullman.
            Sean also suggested that I create a survey to give my classmates and professors about how they discovered non-fiction and what drew them to it. I currently have a short list of questions, but want to develop more.

IDEAS ABOUT HOW TO PRESENT THIS WORK

          Since the goal of my project now is a presentation to high school classes, I’m not sure what the best way is to show that to the class. Sean suggested that I present to our class as though they are a group of English teachers who I am trying to convince to include non-fiction in their syllabi.  
            In addition to the presentation, I’ll write a substantial paper about the works that I’ve read. I’ll give a short synopsis about each book, and work together with professors to realize why each book I read is important to the progression of non-fiction as a genre.

TENTATIVE BIBLIOGRAPHY (presented in accurate MLA form)

Abbey, Edward. Desert Solitare. 1968. 

Agee, James and Walker Evans. Let Us Now Praise Famous Men. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co,  

            2001.
Angelou, Maya. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Bantam, 1963. 

Baldwin, James. Notes of a Native Son. Joseph, 1964. 

Capote, Truman. In Cold Blood. Vintage, 1966. 

Elk, Black and John Neihardt. Black Elk Speaks. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1988.

Eggers, David. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. Vintage, 2000. 

McCourt, Frank. Angela's Ashes. Scribner, 1996. 

Thompson, Hunter S. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Random House, 1971. 

Weisel, Elie. Night. 1958. 

Wolfe, Tom. The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1968. 

Wolff, Tobias. This Boy's Life. Atlantic Monthly P, 1999.