8.1–Introduction

“To be creative means to connect. It’s to abolish the gap between the body, the mind and the soul, between science and art, between fiction and nonfiction.”

– Nawal El Saadawi

The very term literature connotes texts that are fictional, so it might seem strange to you that this textbook would include a focus on nonfiction, as well. However, the label “nonfiction” belies all of the creative choices nonfiction writers must make in order to craft a work that reflects their purpose, addresses their audience’s expectations, and renders the subject faithfully and accurately. The presence of these creative choices in nonfiction entails that writers must focus on many of the same elements that fictional texts do: themes, symbols, structure, genre/medium, point of view, subject (“character”) development, allusions, etc. In addition to focusing on these elements, these creative choices manifest in all levels of a nonfiction text, from the cultures that surround it to the grammar and syntax of individual sentences.

As you read through this chapter, you will likely notice that it is structured differently from prior chapters, particularly in its inclusion of study questions after each layer of analysis. This organizational difference is intended to highlight the variety of possibilities available to scholars and students when analyzing a literary nonfiction text, as well as how to apply each layer of analysis in a close reading of a nonfiction text.