Instructor:  Wayne Garcia
E-mail:       waynegar@tampabay.rr.com
Phone:       (813) 832-6427

Reading list key:

TC = Truman Capote, "In Cold Blood"
TW = Tom Wolfe, "The Right Stuff"
HST = Hunter S. Thompson, "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas"
PG = Philip Gerard, "Creative Nonfiction"

Possible additional reading (handouts):

	Joan Didion from "Slouching Towards Bethlehem"
	Joe Eszterhas, "Charlie Simpson's Apocalypse"
	Norman Mailer, from "Executioner's Song" or "Armies of the Night"
	John McPhee
	Tracy Kidder, from "Home Town"
	David Isay (transcript of Sunshine Hotel)
	Gay Talese, from "Thy Neighbor's Wife"
	Michael Herr, from "Dispatches"
	Ernest Hemingway, from "Death in the Afternoon"
	John Hersey, from "Hiroshima"
	Lillian Ross, "Portrait of Hemingway"
	Humorists: Dave Barry, P.J. O'Rourke, Molly Ivins, Calvin Trillin

Weekly Assignment Schedule:

Week 1

• Course introduction; New Journalism, Literary Journalism and the Nonfiction Novel; Course expectations and requirements

Week 2

• Topics: Truman Capote and the Nonfiction Novel; "In Cold Blood"
• A&E Biography video on Capote
• Reading Assignment: First 50 pages TC; First 2 chapters PG

Week 3

• Topic: Dissecting In Cold Blood; The Story Idea and the Importance of Reporting
• Reading Assignment: TC through the first 2 sections;  PG, chapters 3 & 7

Week 4

• Topic:  Completing In Cold Blood; Columnists, humor and human interest.
• Reading Assignment:  Finish In Cold Blood; Southern, "Twirling at Ole Miss" (handout)

Week 5

• Topic: Hippie Culture ­ New Journalism as response to Social Change
• Reading Assignment: Joe Ezsterhas, from "Charlie Simpson's Apocalypse"; HST, "The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved"; PG, Chapters 5-6
• Story  #1 (wild card) due at beginning of class.

Week 6

• Topic: Book critique/analysis due at beginning of class

Week 7

• Topic: Death & War: From the front lines & other grisly scenes: John Hersey; Michael Herr; John Steinbeck & Ernie Pyle (Now, there's a dinner party guest list)
• Reading Assignment: Hersey, "The Unforgettable Fire" (excerpt); Herr, "Hell Sucks" (excerpt); Pyle, "The Story of Capt. Waskow"; John Steinbeck, "Lilli Marlene;" PG, Chapter 8
• Story #2 (feature) due at the beginning of class.

Week 8

• Topic:  Lillian Ross; Joan Didion; Edna Buchanan
• Reading Assignment: Lillian Ross, "Portrait of Hemingway"; Joan Didion, "Some Dreamers of the Golden Dream"; Trillin's New Yorker article on Edna Buchanan; PG, Chapter 9

Week 9

• Topic:  Class Assignments review; Using First Person effectively

Week 10

• Topic: Dr. William McKeen - The contribution of Tom Wolfe to nonfiction writing.
• Reading Assignment: TW entire book
• Story #3 (crime) due at the beginning of class.

Week 11

• UF Homecoming, NO CLASS

Week 12

• Topic: Norman Mailer and special guest star: Mailer's Ego
• Reading assignments: Mailer handouts: PG, Chapters 10-11
• Story #4 (wild card) due at beginning of class.

Week 13

• Topic: Dr. Gonzo & the Banshee's Scream: Hunter S. Thompson blurs the lines between fact and fiction (plus Tracy Kidder, Joe McGinniss, John McPhee & Gay Talese)
• Reading Assignment: Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas; Jacket Copy (rejected) for F&L; Kidder, McGinniss, McPhee and Talese selections TBA
• Author research paper due at the beginning of class

Week 14

• Thanksgiving holiday, NO CLASS

Week 15

• The End of Our Journey, out on the edge of the desert
• George Plimpton; The Art of Interviewing and the use of Oral Biography
• Reading Assignments: Plimpton, from "Paper Tigers" or Capote bio; PG, Chapter 4
• Real Dialogue: The relationship between sound and print ­ David Isay's "Sunshine Hotel"
• Class Party
• Reading Assignment: "Sunshine Hotel" transcript (handout)
• All published rewrites due with original graded work for re-grading.
• Story #5 (public affairs) due at beginning of class.

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