From Fact to Fiction

Shelley Fisher Fishkin teaches American Studies at the University of Texas in Austin and was Director of the Poynter Fellowship in Journalism at Yale University where she also taught American Literature.

"I anticipate great value from this text--its scholarship, lucid prose, and particularly the vast gap of ignorance it seeks to fill, will make it a most useful and versatile choice for my course."--Raymond I. Rundus, Pembroke State University"From Whitman and Twain to Dreiser and Dos Passos, [Fishkin] tracks American literature back to unexpected beginnings in journalism. Her sophisticated search turns a new illumination on these writers' lives."--Eugene Patterson, St. Petersburg Times"A valuable and readable study, well worth the attention of any student of American writing."--San Francisco Chronicle"An original, illuminating, and timely work. It reaches back to explore in vivid detail the journalistic origins of some of the greatest American writers, from Whitman to Dos Passos, then reaches forward to reflect with subtlety and sophistication on the current journalistic tendency towards fiction-making."--R.W.B. Lewis, Yale University"No critic before Fishkin has explored at length the phenomenon of the reporter turned artist. From Fact to Fiction is a welcome initial exploration, an incisive and well-written discussion...[a] groundbreaking book."--American Quarterly"I anticipate great value from this text--its scholarship, lucid prose, and particularly the vast gap of ignorance it seeks to fill, will make it a most useful and versatile choice for my course."--Raymond I. Rundus, Pembroke State University"From Whitman and Twain to Dreiser and Dos Passos, [Fishkin] tracks American literature back to unexpected beginnings in journalism. Her sophisticated search turns a new illumination on these writers' lives."--Eugene Patterson, St. Petersburg Times"A valuable and readable study, well worth the attention of any student of American writing."--San Francisco Chronicle"An original, illuminating, and timely work. It reaches back to explore in vivid detail the journalistic origins of some of the greatest American writers, from Whitman to Dos Passos, then reaches forward to reflect with subtlety and sophistication on the current journalistic tendency towards fiction-making."--R.W.B. Lewis, Yale University"No critic before Fishkin has explored at length the phenomenon of the reporter turned artist. From Fact to Fiction is a welcome initial exploration, an incisive and well-written discussion...[a] groundbreaking book."--American Quarterly"It is rare for books as innovative, groundbreaking and important as From Fact to Fiction to be as well-written, and I applaud it."--Norman Mailer"Graceful writing, fresh insights and excitement combine to make this work...a valuable asset to the field of journalism history, one that makes a strong contribution to the understanding of the craft of reporting and its relationship to American literary realism."--Journalism History"An original, illuminating, and timely work."--R.W.B. Lewis, Yale University"Fishkin's study forms an important part of the accumulating case for the tradition of American realism, of a literature of fact and detail."--Times Literary Supplement"Very readable....I endorse this without reservation and with enthusiasm."--Ed Rooney, Loyola University"Excellent scholarship; at a level students can grasp--I love it!"--Fred L. Gardaphe, Columbia College"A much-needed approach....Gives journalistic writing a much-deserved accolade."--Herb Blisard, Yakima Valley College"Each of us writers who started out as journalists or hwo are cursed by also being journalists should thank Shelley Fisher Fishkin for this impressive work."--Oriana Fallaci"A fascinating blend of biography, social history, criticism, and close textual analysis."--William A. Henry III, media critic for Time"Intriguing."--Philadelphia Inquirer"An informative study."--Los Angeles Times"The persuasive point of this finely researched and even-handed volume is that we have dismissed too readily (and perhaps even disdainfully) the important apprenticeship in journalism of an inordinate number of American writers."--American Studies