From : The Chronicle
Photo : http://chronicle.com/
Thirty years ago, I majored in literature without being required to read a single nonfiction text. Of the 200 books I had to master for my M.A. prelim exam, exactly two (Walden and Black Boy) were nonfictional. Since then nonfiction's standing may have improved inside academe and beyond, but only marginally. On those proliferating lists of greatest writers, the novelists, poets, and dramatists remain utterly dominant.
Nonfiction has long been treated as the lutefisk on the literary menu, unlikely to be the special of the day. The genre emits a whiff of the déclassé, served (especially in literature departments) with a garnish of condescension. The problem starts with the word: Like "childless" (why not "child-free"?), "nonfiction" packs a lot of social judgment. Nonfiction may be real, but in matters of creativity, it's not quite the real thing.
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