The New Journalism

by Danielle Dunn

Donald Barthelme is one of the writers involved with a fairly new idea and new style of writing called “New Journalism.”  This idea of New Journalism has been heavily influenced by a man named Tom Wolfe since the 1960s-70s due to his belief that reporting needed to be more interesting.  The most important feature of New Journalism is the fact that it stresses the distinction between fact and fiction.  Marc Weingarten describes this form of writing as “one that announced and privileged the journalist’s subject position, effectually blurring the lines between disinterested observation (journalism) and subjective reporting (fiction)” (1091).  In other words, New Journalism is a type of writing that focuses on more descriptive fact and truth, rather than subjective and bias recording of events.  In Donald Barthelme’s story “The Indian Uprising,” he demonstrates Tom Wolfe’s ideals of New Journalism through the use of detailed facts that draw in the readers’ attention to his experiences and encourages them to distinguish truth from opinion.

New Journalism does not suggest that readers are unable to distinguish the difference between fact and fiction.  Instead, it is suggesting that a more detailed version of a story creates a more powerful effect on the way that readers find the truth in a story.  In an interview with Tom Wolfe, he states that the techniques used in New Journalism “enable you to create the most powerful effects, the richest types of characters and situations…” (29). He refers to the downfall of reporters as being the fact that they can tell you every detail of what their story is about, but when their article comes out in a newspaper/magazine/journal, it is condensed into a couple of paragraphs that provide no realistic detail at all, causing it to be categorized as less interesting than what it really is.  Wolfe inspires writers to stay true to their whole story instead of taking away details that provide realism, and only giving a summary.

Although every thought and detail seems to run together, Donald Barthelme’s “The Indian Uprising,” gives a sense of realism as he describes the events of the war as well as his emotions as he experiences a battle within himself between personal and political views.  The narrator in the story struggles with the idea of understanding and often finds it difficult to find meaning in why things happen.  The fact that the narrator searches for the meaning behind things reflects the way that New Journalism writers think in the sense that they are always searching for a truth in stories.  If we all have our own interpretations, how are we ever supposed to find a universal truth?  Is everything meant to have a universal truth, or are we supposed to form our own opinion based on facts provided?

Reilly, Ian. "The Gang That Wouldn't Write Straight: Wolfe, Thompson, Didion, Capote & The New Journalism Revolution." Journal Of Popular Culture 40.6 (2007): 1091-1092. Academic Search Complete. Web. 22 Apr. 2012.

"Tom Wolfe: The New Journalism." Literary Cavalcade 57.8 (2005): 29. Academic Search Complete. Web. 22 Apr. 2012.