Syllabi July 11, 2012

The great challenge of nonfiction writing is transforming reality into a compelling story with a strong narrative arc. Bombarded by the characters and conversations of everyday life, the nonfiction writer must constantly discard details that don’t serve their stories, and notice and transcribe the few that do. Some of these titles reflect on the challenge of creating a world that’s as vivid as those in the most memorable novels, while others simply show how it’s done. The Situation and the Story by Vivian Gornick Gornick begins her meditation on nonfiction storytelling by acknowledging that it’s a fraught pursuit. On either