Date on LBA Capstone
5-2020
Document Type
Dissertation/Thesis
Lead Mentor
Dr. Barbara Cobb, Mentor, LBA Coordinator
Mentor
Dr. Carrie Jerrell, Mentor, English
Mentor
Professor Leigh Wright, Mentor, Journalism
Department
English and Philosophy
Second Department
Journalism and Mass Communications
Abstract/Description
New Journalism is a genre of journalism that broadly falls under the feature story category in many newspapers and magazines. The form was pioneered in the 1960s and 1970s by Tom Wolfe of New York Magazine, and it strove to tell nonfiction stories in the style of a novel. New Journalists used elements of fiction such as point of view and dialogue to tell the stories of their subjects. Although they were works of nonfiction, these articles and books more closely resembled fiction in style and form. In this project, New Journalism is defined and characterized by its core elements. Then, these characteristics are identified and explored in Tom Wolfe’s The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. Wolfe relies heavily on the core characteristics of New Journalism to craft his argument to readers. These characteristics will be applied to a modern example of literary nonfiction, “Me Talk Pretty One Day” by David Sedaris. The characteristics of New Journalism are also demonstrated in a short essay based on my own experiences as an expecting mother during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Recommended Citation
Bainer, Samantha, "New Journalism: Roots and Influence" (2020). Liberal Arts Capstones. 5.
https://digitalcommons.murraystate.edu/lbacapstone/5