Journalism and the Literary Imagination

This course examines the kinship and stylistic connections between literature and journalism within a chronological framework. Readings span the centuries and encompass such diverse literary forms as the diary, political pamphlet, and newspaper column, in addition to appropriate novels and essays and literary traditions that promoted the dialogue (and at times the rivalry) between fact and fiction, history and fabrication, oral and written traditions, and private and public knowledge, on both sides of the Atlantic. Writers studied will vary from semester to semester but might include Swift, Whitman, Crane, Zola, Hemingway, Camus, Capote, Mailer, Wolfe, Baldwin, and Didion. (Students will receive credit for only one of the following courses: CMP 4730; ENG 4730; or JRN 4730. These courses may substitute for each other in the F-replacement policy). Please note: Unless otherwise specified, JRN courses may not be used within the English major or minor.