Literary Journalism in America
AMST 30178, JED 30115
Tuesday & Thursday 930-1045
Jordan Hall 322
Professor: Josh Roiland
Office: Flanner Hall 1038
Email: jroiland@nd.edu
Phone: 574-631-2599 (office)
314-550-9156 (cell)
Office Hours: M & T 11am-12pm
“American novelists really do believe that there is some story out there that will explain America.
Maybe nonfiction writers have inherited that quest.” —Jane Kramer
“Artists have always been the real purveyors of news, for it is not the outward happening in itself
which is new, but the kindling by it of emotion, perception and appreciation.” —John Dewey
Course Description
Literary journalism is a genre of nonfiction writing that adheres to all of the reportorial and truth-telling
covenants of traditional journalism, while employing rhetorical and storytelling techniques more
commonly associated with fiction. In short, it is journalism as literature. This course will introduce
students to the major writers, publications, controversies and questions that have emerged during
American literary journalism’s 150 year history. We will start with the 19th century newspaper sketch
and move through its social justice impulses at the turn of the century. We will trace literary journalism’s
institutionalization at The New Yorker in the 1930s and ‘40s, and follow its proliferation at Esquire, New
York, and Rolling Stone during the New Journalism era of the 1960s and ‘70s. Finally, we’ll end with a
look at contemporary writers and examine the effect the digital revolution is having on the genre.
Throughout this journey we will explore distinctions between physical truth and emotional truth,
imagination and invention, form and content. We will note how historical and political contexts influence
and appear in the works, and ask how these stories work as narratives, as cultural critiques, and as
entertainment. We will examine the correlation between publication venue and readership, and note the
ways literary journalism motivates citizens to act. Evaluation will be based on class participation, several
short papers, and a final research paper project.
Required Texts
Norman Sims, True Stories: A Century of Literary Journalism
John Hersey, Hiroshima
Joan Didion, Slouching Towards Bethlehem
Course Requirements & Evaluation
 Mandatory daily attendance and class participation:
o (Completion of all reading and writing assignments):
 Five Reading Responses (700 words):
 Annotated Bibliography:
 Research Presentation:
 Research Paper (5000 words):
20%
25% (total)
10%
10%
35%
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Class Policies
Attendance: As a seminar, our class will rely almost exclusively on classroom and small group
discussion. For this format to work, everyone needs to attend class. For this format to thrive, everyone
attending class needs actively to participate. If you decide not to come to class or if you come to class
unprepared your grade will severely reflect the consequences of your actions. Beginning with your third
absence, your final grade will drop 1/3 (e.g. B- to C+). Students who accumulate five or more absences
will automatically fail the course. Should you be late or absent, please have the courtesy to call and let
me know ahead of time. You will be responsible for any notes and/or assignments you miss. Missing
class is no excuse for not being prepared for the next class. A missed conference or guided workshop
counts as a missed class.
Cell Phones / Laptops: Please refrain from using cell phones and laptops in class.
Assignments: All assignments are due in class on the day stated in the syllabus. Any work that is handed
in late will receive a full grade deduction (e.g. from a B to a C) for each day that it is past due. In
addition, I will not comment on work that is submitted late, nor will I always be able to return them
promptly. No work will be accepted beyond the last day of class.
Academic Honesty: This class follows the binding Code of Honor at Notre Dame. The graded work you
do in this class must be your own. In the case where you collaborate with other students make sure to
fairly attribute their contribution to your project. The purpose of research and citations is to join into an
ongoing scholarly conversation about a given topic. Too often, however, research and citations carry a
negative connotation: If you don’t cite, you fail!!! And while it is important to make sure we are all
honest in our scholastic endeavors, we should do so for positive, rather than negative reasons. Please use
sources and cite liberally, and do it because you want to situate your argument in its context and history.
Unfortunately, sometimes people do not cite their sources for one reason or another, and when that is the
case, there has to be consequences. Any student who plagiarizes any assignment will be subject to
punishment as detailed in the Notre Dame Code of Academic Honor. To be safe, simply cite the source if
you reference or even allude to material from somewhere else.
Special Needs: Any student who feels that he or she may have circumstances that require special
attention from the instructor should feel free to contact me in order to make the learning environment as
comfortable and conducive as possible.
Subject-to-Change Clause: This syllabus is subject to change at the instructor’s discretion; such changes
will be announced in class, and a revised schedule will be distributed if necessary. It is the student’s
responsibility to be aware of changes in policies or schedules.
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Reading List & Writing Schedule
October 13-21: NO CLASS (Mid-Term Break)
November 15: NO CLASS (ASA Conference)
November 21-25: NO CLASS (Thanksgiving)
December 6: Last Class
Introducing & Defining Literary Journalism
David Foster Wallace, “Consider the Lobster” (Gourmet, 2004)
Michael Paterniti, “The Long Fall of One-Eleven Heavy” (Esquire, 2000)
Norman Sims, True Stories, Ch. 1: A True Story
Adrian Nicole LeBlanc, “Trina & Trina” (Village Voice, 1993)
Tom Junod, “The Falling Man” (Esquire, 2001)
Tim Townsend, “The First Hours” (Rolling Stone, 2001)
Reading Response 1
Early Literary Journalism, 1890s - 1920s
Thomas B. Connery, “A Third Way to Tell the Story”
Stephen Crane, “When Man Falls A Crowd Gathers” (New York Press 1894)
Richard Harding Davis, “The Death of Rodriguez” (New York World 1897)
Jack London, from The People of the Abyss (1903)
Ben Hecht, “The Pig” (1921)
Norman Sims, True Stories, Ch. 2: Sketches and Innovation
Reading Response 2
Second Wave of American Literary Journalism, 1930s & 1940s
Norman Sims, True Stories, Ch. 3: A Generation Goes Travelling
James Agee, “Havana Cruise” (Fortune, 1937)
Langston Hughes, “Madrid’s Flowers Hoist Blooms…” (Baltimore Afro-American, 1937)
Martha Gellhorn, “The Third Winter” (1938)
Joseph Mitchell, “Old Mr. Flood” (The New Yorker 1944)
Jimmy Cannon, “Lethal Lightning” (New York Post, 1946)
John Hersey, Hiroshima (The New Yorker, 1946)
Phyllis Frus, from The Politics and Poetics of Journalistic Narrative
Hugh Kenner, “The Politics of Plain Style”
Ben Yagoda, from About Town: The New Yorker and the World It Made
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Kathy Roberts Forde, “Profit and Public Interest: The Publishing History of John Hersey’s Hiroshima”
Norman Sims, True Stories, Ch. 5: The Bomb
Reading Response 3& 4
The New Journalism, 1960s & 1970s
Lillian Ross, “The Yellow Bus” (The New Yorker, 1960)
Norman Mailer, “Superman Comes to the Supermarket” (Esquire, 1960)
Truman Capote, from In Cold Blood (The New Yorker, 1965)
Gay Talese, “Frank Sinatra Has a Cold” (Esquire, 1966)
Gay Talese, “The Silent Season of a Hero” (Esquire, 1966)
Michael Herr, from Dispatches (Esquire, 1968)
Tom Wolfe, from The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (1968)
Joan Didion, “On Morality” (The American Scholar, 1965)
Joan Didion, “Some Dreamers of the Golden Dream” (The Saturday Evening Post, 1966)
Joan Didion, “L.A. Notebook” (The Saturday Evening Post, 1967)
Joan Didion, “Slouching Towards Bethlehem” (The Saturday Evening Post, 1967)
Joan Didion, “On the Morning After the Sixties” (The Saturday Evening Post, 1970)
Hunter S. Thompson, “The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved” (Scanlan’s 1970)
Norman Sims, True Stories, Ch. 6: Tourist in a Strange Land
John J. Pauly, “The Politics of New Journalism”
David Eason, “The New Journalism and the Image World”
Reading Responses 5
The New, New Journalism? 1980s to Present
Susan Orlean, “The American Man at Age Ten” (Esquire, 1992)
Ted Conover, “The Road is Very Unfair” (New Yorker, 1993)
David Foster Wallace, “Getting Away From Already Pretty Being Much Away From It All” (Harpers, 1996)
Jim Sheeler, “Final Salute” (Rocky Mountain News, 2006)
Norman Sims, True Stories, Ch. 7: New Generations
Robert Boynton, Introduction to The New, New Journalism
Josh Roiland, “Getting Away From It All: The Literary Journalism of David Foster Wallace and
Nietzsche’s Concept of Oblivion”
Reading Response 6
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