| ASSIGNMENTS
Readings
Writing Projects
Book Reviews/Reports
DESCRIPTION
EXAMS
Midterm
Final
LINKS
Authors
Composition Sites
Publishing Guides
NOTES
REPORTS
SYLLABUS
WRITERLY
ADVICE
U. S. Universities
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22 October
Responses to Interview Transcripts
are now online at this link.
 Updated October 20
PROFILES
"Life is
stronger than fiction -- at 76, Doris Lessing wants to be alone"--a short profile
of the British novelist Doris Lessing by The Daily Telegraph writer HELENA de
BERTODANO. Consider how information about Lessing's early years in
South Africa and her subsequent exile is integrated with direct observations from
Lessing about her life today.
INTERVIEWS & PROFILES
A few sample interviews and profiles to
help get you thinking about effective ways to approach your own subject.
"The Inner
Bezos," by Chip Bayers (Wired March 1999). Profile
of the founder of Amazon.com, Jeff Bezos. Consider, in particular, the lead
paragraphs and the various ways Bayers integrates biographical information about
Bezos with direct quotations from Bezos, who attempts to articulate his
"vision."
"Interview With Ani
DiFranco," by Michael Mechanic (Mother Jones, September
1999). This interview in Q & A format illustrates one of the key stages involved
in developing an effective profile. DiFranco is characterized as "one Righteous
Babe
who 86-ed the corporate music industry to put her own kind
of political statements to music."
"Setting the Record
Straight: an Interview with Edward Said," by Harvey Blume (Atlantic
September 1999). Another interview in Q & A format.
Susan Faludi: the Mother
Jones Interview , by Sue Halpern (Mother Jones,
September/October 1999). Interview in Q&A format with the "Pulitzer
Prize-winner who identified the
backlash against feminism [and who now] turns her attention to the
next oppressed class: men."
"Talking
Baseball with Hank Greenwald," by Joan Walsh (Salon.com
October 1999). Another interview in Q & A format.
INTERVIEWS WITH AUTHORS
A few online interviews with
professional authors, who provide insights into the process of writing literary
nonfiction--and getting it published.
"The
Architecture of Daily Life: A Conversation with Tracy Kidder," by Joan Walsh (Atlantic
Unbound, April 1999). Q&A with the author of The Soul of a New Machine (1981),
Among Schoolchildren (1989), and Home Town (1999). Kidder has won
a Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for his literary nonfiction. Books by
Kidder are among your options for the final book review/report.
“'Just the
facts, Ma'am': Why Joe Friday Could Never Write Creative Nonfiction,"
by Rodney Lewis Merrill (Writer
Online, September 1997).
 return to PROFILES assignment |
