Issue 17 / 2001
17 / Between the Lines
Featuring Bret Lott on Writing About Writing, and a profile of John McPhee
This issue features essays that, among other things, go between the lines—writers writing about writing—in a variety of creative and informative contexts.
Novelist Bret Lott speaks out in “Against Technique,” while Canadian journalist David Hayes analyzes the “inner monologue,” an often-debated creative nonfiction technique and tool.
Also in Creative Nonfiction #17, Laurie Stone reflects upon the ebbing and flowing career of even a successful writer; Elena Passarello ruminates on the culture-shattering brilliance of mindless, meaningless rock ’n’ roll lyrics, and what was going on in the minds of the stars who penned them; Molly Peacock dictates to her readers the beautiful inner-isolation necessary to literary creation; and Micheal Rosenwald profiles John McPhee.
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What’s the Story #17
I always tell people to evaluate essays and books—theirs and others’—with a double perspective, through the eyes of a reader and the eyes of a writer. Similarly architects or engineers studying a building or a bridge will not only see what the edifice looks like, as would any commuter or pedestrian, but also visualize the blueprint of the structure—how it was put together.Selling Indulgence in Corporate Japan
“Grandmother, Grandfather, how healthy are you?” The recorded female voice sounds metallic over the bus loudspeaker. “The medical services provided by Seto Rehabilitation Hospital have been trusted by the Tokuyama community since the fourth year of Emperor Showa.”Being Brians
"There are 215 Brian Doyles in the United States..."Photographic Memory
A black-and-white snapshot contains my first memory of a place that no longer belongs to me, a place gone from my life forever, in this picture stand four generations of a family: a young woman, her father, his mother and two great-grandchildren.Report From the Food Chain
It’s drizzling in April, so I take the subway instead of my bike. I never know what party I’m going to cater until I get to the location. Usually I don’t care.Patron Saint of Thrown-Away Things
St. James didn’t think of himself as an artist. His intentions went far beyond art.Privacy Lessons
Just a piece of privacy lattice away, my maniac neighbor is attacking 2-by-4s with a buzzsaw. I would be happier hearing birdsong, but that savage is not interrupting me. I have turned my back to him.Ramalamadingdong
Why rock 'n' roll songs have such silly lyrics.Just Add Water
I’m ungrounded in Florida. I’ve come to Sarasota, a spot I picked off a map, to forget a marriage that came apart, to put distance between me and what I’ve left behind, to escape the smoky, airless kitchens that have become my career.The Grounds Crew
Two weeks into my freshman year at college, I came out of the financial-aid office carrying paperwork that approved me for an on-campus job.Against Technique
I’ve been asked to write about fictive techniques and how they have informed my creative nonfiction, and now that I have begun, the truth is that I can tell you just about anything. IPenetrating Thoughts: Travels with John McPhee
As the pressure mounted in his David-versus-Goliath personal-injury case against two of America’s largest corporations, Jan Schlichtmann, the central figure in Jonathan Harr’s non-fiction legal thriller, “A Civil Action,” battled personal demons, as well as legal ones.