Introduction
“We sailed out of Miles River for Baltimore on a Saturday morning. I remember only the day of the week, for at that time I had no knowledge of the days of the month, nor the months of the year. On setting sail, I walked aft, and gave to Colonel Lloyd’s plantation what I hoped would be my last look. I then placed myself in the bows of the sloop, and there spent the remainder of the day in looking ahead, interesting myself in what was in the distance rather than in things near by or behind.”
When you read the excerpt above, how do you categorize it? In other words, do you identify it as fiction or nonfiction? It can be difficult to discern the difference, especially with narrative nonfiction. The excerpt above comes from “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave,” one of the most renowned memoirs of the nineteenth-century. However, if you identified elements that seem familiar from your readings of fiction, you would not be misguided. Creative nonfiction, like fiction, features a narrator, scenes, setting, and plot. What distinguishes nonfiction from fact? Ultimately, little more than that the writer purports to be relaying a true story.
Nonfiction vs. Fiction
Is all Fiction Literature? Is all Nonfiction Literature?
Fiction refers to literature created from the imagination. Mysteries, science fiction, romance, fantasy, chick lit, crime thrillers are all fiction genres. Whether or not all of these genres should be considered “literature” is a matter of opinion. Some of these fiction genres are taught in literature classrooms and some are not usually taught, considered more to be reading for entertainment. Works often taught in literature classrooms are referred to as “literary fiction” including classics by Dickens, Austen, Twain, and Poe, for example.
Like fiction, non-fiction also has a sub-genre called “literary nonfiction” that refers to literature based on fact but written in creative way, making it as enjoyable to read as fiction. Of course there are MANY other types of nonfiction such as cookbooks, fitness articles, crafting manuals, etc. which are not “literature,” meaning not the types of works we would study in a literature classroom. However, you may not be aware of the many types of nonfiction we would study, such as biography, memoir or autobiography, essays, speeches, and humor. Of these literary nonfiction genres, they can be long like a book or series of books or short like an essay or journal entry. Some examples of these you are already familiar with, like The Diary of Anne Frank or Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt. These works of literary nonfiction have character, setting, plot, conflict, figurative language, and theme just like literary fiction.
Clarification: The test of categorizing a work between fiction and nonfiction is not whether there is proof the story is true, but whether it CLAIMS to be true. For example, someone writing a first hand account of being abducted by aliens would be classified in the nonfiction section, meaning the author claims it really happened. Further, a story in which imaginary characters are set into real historical events is still classified as fiction.
Introduction to Literature. Licensed under CC BY SA 4.0 https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-introliterature/chapter/introduction-to-nonfiction/
“Introduction to Creative Nonfiction.” Licensed under Standard Youtube License https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPOWTIHOln8
Summary
There are many types of fiction and there are many types of nonfiction. Sometimes, distinguishing between the genres is easy. For example, it would be difficult to confuse a mystery novel with a cookbook or a romance novel with an encyclopedia. Where the differentiation becomes more difficult is in instances of creative nonfiction that uses narrative. This is sometimes called narrative nonfiction.
Narrative nonfiction has a lot in common with literary fiction. Literary fiction simply refers to literature, those works that do not ascribe to be part of a sub-genre such as mystery or crime. You’re probably familiar with many works of literature or literary fiction. Novels such as Pride and Prejudice, Gulliver’s Travels, and The Catcher in the Rye are all examples of literary fiction.
What these texts have in common with nonfiction is the usage of key literary elements. These elements—a narrator, setting, characterization, plot, and theme—help nonfiction writers create memoirs, personal essays, autobiographies, and biographies that are just as captivating as their fictional counterparts. What might make them even more compelling than some fiction is, of course, the fact that purport to represent lived life.
