Me – write. You – read.

I’ve just written a journal entry for Literary Journalism and emailed it to my lecturer. What the heck, says I…publish it on the blog, as a page.

Narrative Reportage

Ostensibly, I was going to use this blog to discuss my Honours project and use it as a tool to track the development of my research. While that remains the primary objective, my head is currently in a swirl as I investigate journalism – the who, what, where, when and hows necessary for factual stories. Drilling down even further though, is the WHY? The ‘Why’ which defines Feature Writing, Literary Journalism, Creative Non-Fiction. Story-telling with a distinctive voice: tales not hampered by that barnacle call ‘objectivity’, but enriched by emotional depth that can make a stronger connection with readers.

Gay Talese is a giant in literary journalism. His article “Frank Sinatra Has A Cold“, was published in Esquire, in April 1966. This is the background info taken from his website:

In the winter of 1965, writer Gay Talese arrived in Los Angeles with an assignment from Esquire to profile Frank Sinatra. The legendary singer was approaching fifty, under the weather, out of sorts, and unwilling to be interviewed. So Talese remained in L. A., hoping Sinatra might recover and reconsider, and he began talking to many of the people around Sinatra–his friends, his associates, his family, his countless hangers-on–and observing the man himself wherever he could. The result, “Frank Sinatra Has a Cold,” ran in April 1966 and became one of the most celebrated magazine stories ever published, a pioneering example of what came to be called New Journalism–a work of rigorously faithful fact enlivened with the kind of vivid storytelling that had previously been reserved for fiction.

Get ready for some fine reading!