This anthology brings together 50 diverse works of contemporary creative nonfiction, from memoirs to personal essays to literary journalism, along with 15 craft essays.

Alternate Contents by Creative Nonfiction Forms

vii

Preface

xi

INTRODUCTION

1

(8)

The "I"

1

(1)

The "Eye"

2

(1)

The Idea of Truth

3

(2)

The Use of Literary Elements

5

(4)

I. PORTRAITS

9

(72)

Introduction

9

(2)

The "I"

11

(37)

Bernard Cooper,

"Picking Plums"

11

(6)

Tony Earley,

"Somehow Form a Family"

17

(6)

Lucy Grealy,

"Mirrorings"

23

(7)

Jamaica Kincaid,

"Biography of a Dress"

30

(5)

Lê Thi Diem Thúy,

"The Gangster We Are All Looking For"

35

(8)

John Edgar Wideman,

from Brothers and Keepers

43

(5)

The "Eye"

48

(19)

Beverly Lowry,

"Secret Ceremonies of Love and Death"

48

(4)

Susan Orlean,

"Meet the Shaggs"

52

(7)

Tom Wolfe,

"Yeager" from The Right Stuff

59

(8)

Craft Essays

67

(14)

Tracy Kidder,

"Making the Truth Believable"

67

(2)

Phillip Lopate,

"On the Necessity of Turning Oneself into a Character"

69

(4)

Scott Russell Sanders,

"The Singular First Person"

73

(8)

II. PLACE

81

(62)

Introduction

81

(2)

The "I"

83

(34)

Judith Ortiz Cofer,

"Silent Dancing"

83

(6)

Edwidge Danticat,

"Westbury Court"

89

(3)

Stuart Dybek,

"Field Trips"

92

(3)

Chang-rae Lee,

"Coming Home Again"

95

(7)

Thomas Lynch,

"The Undertaking"

102

(6)

Naomi Shihab Nye,

"Thank You in Arabic"

108

(9)

The "Eye"

117

(16)

John McPhee,

"The Search for Marvin Gardens"

117

(7)

James Alan McPherson,

"Saturday Night, and Sunday Morning"

124

(6)

Sarah Vowell,

"What He Said There"

130

(3)

Craft Essays

133

(10)

André Aciman,

"A Literary Pilgrim Progresses to the Past"

133

(3)

Vivian Gornick,

from The Situation and the Story

136

(4)

Jonathan Raban,

"Notes from the Road"

140

(3)

III. CREATIVITY AND THE ARTS

143

(64)

Introduction

143

(2)

The "I"

145

(31)

Meghan Daum,

"Music Is My Bag"

145

(7)

Dagoberto Gilb,

"Steinbeck"

152

(2)

Wayne Koestenbaum,

"Celebrity Dreaming"

154

(6)

David Sedaris,

"The Drama Bug"

160

(6)

Charles Simic,

"The Necessity of Poetry"

166

(7)

Susan Allen Toth,

"Cinematypes: Going to the Movies"

173

(3)

The "Eye"

176

(13)

Saul Bellow,

"Graven Images"

176

(3)

Leslie Marmon Silko,

"Language and Literature from a Pueblo Indian Perspective"

179

(6)

John Updike,

"Fast Art"

185

(4)

Craft Essays

189

(18)

Patricia Hampl,

"Reviewing Anne Frank"

189

(5)

Bret Lott,

"Toward a Definition of Creative Nonfiction"

194

(6)

Cynthia Ozick,

"She: Portrait of the Essay as a Warm Body"

200

(7)

IV. NATURE AND SCIENCE

207

(74)

Introduction

207

(2)

The "I"

209

(33)

Gretel Ehrlich,

"The Solace of Open Spaces"

209

(7)

Edward Hoagland,

"The Courage of Turtles"

216

(4)

Linda Hogan,

"The Bats"

220

(3)

Richard McCann,

"The Resurrectionist"

223

(6)

Floyd Skloot,

"Wild in the Woods: Confessions of a Demented Man"

229

(7)

Terry Tempest Williams,

"The Clan of One-Breasted Women"

236

(6)

The "Eye"

242

(18)

Diane Ackerman,

"The Psychopharmacology of Chocolate"

242

(3)

Atul Gawande,

"Final Cut"

245

(8)

Stephen Jay Gould,

"A Biological Homage to Mickey Mouse"

253

(7)

Craft Essays

260

(21)

Annie Dillard,

"Seeing"

260

(11)

Barry Lopez,

"Landscape and Narrative"

271

(4)

Edward O. Wilson,

"Life Is a Narrative"

275

(6)

V. CULTURE AND SOCIETY

281

(74)

Introduction

281

(2)

The "I"

283

(31)

Dorothy Allison,

from Two or Three Things I Know for Sure

283

(5)

Margaret Atwood,

"The Female Body"

288

(2)

Gerald Early,

"Life with Daughters: Watching the Miss America Pageant"

290

(12)

Maxine Hong Kingston,

"No Name Woman"

302

(7)

Bharati Mukherjee,

"Two Ways to Belong in America"

309

(2)

Alice Walker,

"Becoming What We're Called"

311

(3)

The "Eye"

314

(26)

Lawrence Otis Graham,

"Invisible Man"

314

(11)

Michael Herr,

"Illumination Rounds"

325

(10)

Susan Sontag,

from AIDS and Its Metaphors

335

(5)

Craft Essays

340

(15)

Joan Didion,

"On Keeping a Notebook"

340

(5)

Barbara Ehrenreich,

"Getting Ready" from Nickel and Mimed

345

(4)

Lee Gutkind,

"The Creative Nonfiction Police"

349

(6)

Appendix I: Writing Prompts

355

(8)

Appendix II: Suggestions for Further Reading

363

(20)

Credits

383

(2)

Index of Authors and Titles

385

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